Yesterday’s first ever shipment of V112-3.0 MW offshore turbines marks a significant milestone for Vestas in several ways.
The shipment confirms Vestas’ strong presence in the offshore-market with the highly competitive V112-3.0 MW offshore specific turbine. It also marks the first shipment of offshore turbines based on Vestas’ industry leading pre-assembly concept where the offshore turbines are substantially assembled and pre-commissioned onshore. This new concept saves significant cost while reducing risk and ensuring faster installation at the offshore site.
“We are very pleased to reach this milestone together with our customer. Shipping the first V112-3.0 MW offshore turbines from the Esbjerg harbour marks an important milestone for both the V112 offshore turbine and the pre-assembly concept,” says Senior Vice President, Vestas Offshore, Uffe Vinther-Schou.
“Vestas has a strong presence in offshore, and we have competitive products and solutions on the shelf. The V112-3.0 MW offshore turbines deliver industry leading reliability, serviceability and availability under offshore conditions, and with our new pre-assembly concept, the cost of energy will be further reduced,” he says.
Building offshore projects onshore drives down the cost of energy
Vestas has developed an innovative approach to cut the cost of installing offshore turbines. At a new site at the port of Esbjerg, onshore pre-assembly of turbines means fewer expensive hours spent at sea.
This will significantly reduce the cost associated with cranes and installation vessels – all contributing to lowering the cost of energy for offshore wind, explains Head of Pre-assembly for Vestas Offshore, Bo Bjerregaard. “Going forward, we want to assemble as much of our offshore projects onshore as possible,” he says.
“Nacelles arrive in Esbjerg with hub and drivetrain mounted. Before arrival they have been tested as one unit in our production facilities. At the harbour, blades also arrive in plug-and-play mode from production. The towers will arrive in two sections and then be fully assembled at the harbour and put in up-right position on the installation vessel before shipment.”
Vestas ships first ever V112-3.0 MW offshore turbines to the 48 MW Kaarehamn project in Sweden. The shipment consists of 16 turbines, all pre-assembled onshore at the harbour in Esbjerg, Denmark.
At the pre-assembly site, both nacelle and tower will be tested together before shipment to ensure a fast start-up offshore. Installation and commissioning will be a plug and play solution in order to reduce the costly offshore installation time.
The shipment for the 48 MW project Kaarehamn project is the first of several offshore project to be shipped out of Vestas’ pre-assembly facilities in Esbjerg. During 2013 and 2014 Vestas will also ship 73 V112-3.0 MW turbines to the 219 MW Humber Gateway project as well as 72 V112-3.0 MW turbines for the 216 MW Northwind Offshore Wind Farm in Belgium.
Every single day, Vestas wind turbines deliver clean energy that supports the global fight against climate change. Wind power from Vestas’ around 49,000 wind turbines currently reduces carbon emissions by over 60 million tons of CO2 every year, while at the same time building energy security and independence.
Today, Vestas has delivered wind energy in 73 countries, providing jobs for around 18,000 passionate people at our service and project sites, research facilities, factories and offices all over the world. With 62 per cent more megawatts installed than our closest competitor and more than 55 GW of cumulative installed capacity worldwide, Vestas is the world leader in wind energy.
