BARD Offshore 1

BARD Offshore 1
Country Germany
Location North Sea
Coordinates 54°22′N 5°59′E / 54.36°N 5.98°E / 54.36; 5.98Coordinates: 54°22′N 5°59′E / 54.36°N 5.98°E / 54.36; 5.98
Status Operational
Construction began March 2010
Commission date 26 August 2013
Owner(s) Enovos
Wind farm
Type Offshore
Distance from shore 90 km (56 mi)
Hub height 90 m (295 ft)
Rotor diameter 122 m (400 ft)
Power generation
Units operational 80 x 5 MW
Make and model BARD 5.0
Nameplate capacity 400 MW
Website
www.bard-offshore.de/en/projects/offshore/bard-offshore-1
BARD Offshore 1's location in the wind farms of the German Bight

BARD Offshore 1 is a 400 megawatt (MW) North Sea offshore wind farm with 80 BARD 5.0 turbines. Construction was finished in July 2013[1] and the wind farm was officially inaugurated in August 2013.[2] The wind farm is located 100 kilometres (62 mi) northwest of the isle Borkum in 40 metres (130 ft) deep water.[3]

Laying of cables to connect the wind farm started on 23 July 2009.[4] The 200 km connection is the longest of its kind in the world. It is also the first connection of an offshore wind park realized as HVDC-transmission. Construction of the wind turbines began in March 2010.[5] The first turbine became operational at the beginning of December 2010. Construction was assisted by the purpose-built Wind Lift 1 barge / platform, which placed the 470 ton, 21 meter foundations on the sea bed.

The project has run into serious and unclear problems, including being three years behind schedule and, at a cost of €3 billion, run significantly over budget. A diver[6] and a worker died during construction.[7][8] The farm was supposed to go online in August 2013, but a series of setbacks, including a fire at a transmission station in March 2014, have delayed its activation.[9] BARD went bankrupt in November 2013.[10] Problems include overvoltage and harmonics[11] between BARD and the BorWin 1 grid link and BorWin Alpha HVDC converter platform.[12]

BARD's original owner had decided to make all components within the company, and troubles from the custom transformer are unrelated to standard equipment used elsewhere.[13]

As of January 2015, most of the turbines are not supplying power to shore, costing ratepayers €2million per day.[14]

In September 2015, StatKraft and Ocean Breeze extended their contract for two years.[15]

By May 2016, the company website stated that the wind farm had produced 3 TWh, and was running stable at full capacity.[16]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Press release: Pioneering wind farm project BARD Offshore 1 successfully completed on the high seas Archived 2014-08-21 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ German Federal Minister Inaugurates BARD Offshore 1
  3. ↑ 5-MW BARD Near-shore Wind Turbine Erected in Germany
  4. ↑ DDP: Laying cables to wind farm started (in German)
  5. ↑ Wind farm in the ocean ready to go (in German)
  6. ↑ "Tauchunfall im Windpark" Diving accident in the wind farm Die Welt, 27 July 2010. Accessed: 25 February 2015.
  7. ↑ Pressemitteilung der BARD-Gruppe vom 27. Januar 2012 (PDF; 117 kB)
  8. ↑ Mitteilung der DGzRS, retrieved, 4 February 2012
  9. ↑ Germany's Expensive Gamble on Renewable Energy by Matthew Karnitschnig, Wall Street Journal, August 26, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Bard is bankrupt". renewablesinternational.net.
  11. ↑ "Rätselhafter Defekt legt größten Windpark lahm" Enigmatic defect paralyzes largest wind farm Die Welt, 3 September 2014. Accessed: 25 February 2015.
  12. ↑ Knight, Sara (29 May 2015). "Politics block German offshore wind link". windpowermonthly.com. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015.
  13. ↑ "Größter deutscher Meereswindpark fällt aus" The largest German offshore wind park falls out Die Welt, 7 July 2014. Accessed: 25 February 2015.
  14. ↑ "Im größten Meereswindpark dreht sich wenig" In the largest offshore wind park little turns Die Welt, 26 January 2015. Accessed: 25 February 2015.
  15. ↑ "Statkraft vermarktet Strom aus Bard Offshore 1 für weitere zwei Jahre". windmesse.de.
  16. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20160705204457/http://www.oceanbreeze.de/en
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