Siemens Gamesa’s 6MW turbines have been installed on the floating foundations erected for the 30MW Hywind Scotland floating wind farm.
This floating wind farm is claimed to be the largest floating wind farm in the world. Located 25km off the coast of Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, the wind farm is at water depths between 90 and 120 meters.
Foundations for the floating structure are ballast-stablised and anchored to seabed with mooring lines. Siemens Gamesa large direct drive wind turbines with lightweight nacelles are claimed to be suitable for the floating foundations.
The wind farm is expected to be commissioned in this year’s fourth quarter.
In 2009, the Hywind concept proved its effectiveness after Statoil and Siemens Wind Power installed a 2.3MW Siemens Wind Power turbine at the first full-scale floating wind turbine project worldwide, Hywind Demo.
For this particular project, the two companies Siemens Gamesa and Statoil have been working closely to develop a cost efficient and low risk concept for commercial and large scale offshore wind parks.
Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy Offshore CEO Michael Hannibal said: "Siemens Gamesa views the floating wind farm market area the same way as we did with offshore wind farms in the early beginning: it is a very interesting area that is initially a niche market.
“This niche may, however, develop over time into a large market. It is a niche in which we would like to build a strong position for this reason.”
Siemens Gamesa Offshore CEO Michael Hannibal said: "In Siemens Gamesa we don't expect significant challenges in developing a working concept for floating foundations.
“But concepts need to be more cost competitive with bottom fixed foundations to develop into a bigger market."