Objective
To further the utilisation of offshore wind resource throughout the EU through construction of a commercial size (37.5 MW) windfarm using high output wind turbines and to demonstrate that such a windfarm shows a substantial reduced cost/output ratio (£/MWH) compared to existing offshore installations. To achieve this it will be necessary to fully define the technical requirements of an offshore wind farm on a sand bank site in a tidal environment involving large wind turbines (1.5 MW) monopile foundations and new construction methods. The energy payback from the windfarm once in operation is estimated to take less than one year with a reduction in the level of carbon dioxide emissions from Uk thermal power plants approaching 100000 tonnes/Y.
The project involves the construction of an 37.5 MW windfarm on an offshore sandbank approximately 3 km off the coast of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England. The use of an offshore sandbank in a tidal environment for harvesting wind energy is new at present although other sites for replication are known to be available. The scale of the project is much larger than existing truly offshore windfarms, the largest to date being the 5MW Tuno Knob windfarm off the Danish coast, which has 500 kW Vestas turbines. The marinisation of the Vestas V60 1.5MW series design will be innovatory in respect of its size and maximum rating together with the greatly increased wind harvesting capability compared to smaller turbines. The innovatory use of the steel monopile foundation in a tidal offshore environment subject to the forces of the North Sea is another key innovative feature. The challenges of building and maintaining a windfarm on an offshore sandbank will be overcome through the use of innovatory construction techniques, adapted from existing proven offshore experience in the oil and gas industries. The windfarm will utilise a fibre optic cable to transport control signals and data between the windfarm and the shore monitoring location.
The completion of the windfarm will prove the environmental acceptability of large machines on an unconventional offshore site and specifically their public acceptance through limited environmental impact. By demonstration on a commercial scale valuable lessons will be learned and disseminated from the design optimisation of this project which will enhance future market prospects and the commercial viability of offshore windfarms. The operating experience gained from the wind turbines will enable the marinisation measures introduced to be assessed in order to avoid over engineering designs for the future.
The innovative aspects are estimated to result in major reductions in the costs of energy generated from offshore winfarms.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsrenewable energywind power
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesopticsfibre optics
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Topic(s)
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
DEM - Demonstration contractsCoordinator
CV4 8LG Conventry
United Kingdom