Germany's Alpha Ventus Offshore Wind Farm Exceeds Projected Yield

[kristopher]

Alpha Ventus Offshore Wind Farm Exceeds Projected Yield

The offshore wind farm alpha ventus located 45 kilometres north of island of Borkum in the North Sea exceeded the projected wind yield in 2011 by roughly 15%, the alpha ventus consortium DOTI informed.

In total the twelve wind power turbines of Germany’s first offshore wind farm fed over 267 gigawatt hours of electricity into the German power grid, DOTI said.

“The exceptionally high power yields achieved by alpha ventus in 2011 are due primarily to the nearly constant and excellent wind conditions at the wind farm and a high turbine availability of up to 97 percent”, DOTI’s Managing Director and General Project Manager Dr. Claus Burkhardt of EWE explained. The alpha ventus offshore test field proved that offshore wind farms could be economically and commercially viable in Germany in the long term despite challenging conditions, such as long distances from coastlines and great water depths, he pointed out. He called on the government to quickly eliminate obstacles that were currently impeding industry growth and development, naming in particular the uncertain and slow grid connection for planned offshore wind farms in the German North Sea and Baltic Sea.

http://www.alpha-ventus.de/index.php?id=80

The test facility has 60MW of installed capacity and the projected output was 220GWh, which would equal a capacity factor of 42%. The actual output of 267GWh equals a CF of just under 51%.

More than 2000 wind turbines were permitted during 2011, and there has been convened a working group tasked with "acceleration of offshore wind farm grid connections".

[kristopher]

1. 51% capacity factor for offshore wind deserves a bump

[kristopher]

2. 7 MW wind turbines

Vestas:
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/smart-takes/vestas-unveils-massive-7mw-offshore-wind-turbine/15257

Samsung:
http://www.rechargenews.com/energy/wind/article300940.ece

Mitsubishi:
http://www.windpowermonthly.com/news/1106330/Mitsubishi-unveil-7MW-offshore-turbine/

[FBaggins]

3. About as good as could be hoped for.

Performance any better than that would almost be a miracle.

We've got to make big strides on the price of course, but that will come over time.

[kristopher]

4. Germany, Denmark’s Renewable Energy Transition Empowering Offshore Wind

Germany, Denmark’s Renewable Energy Transition Empowering Offshore Wind (Part of Largest Infrastructure Investment Program in Europe Since World War II)
March 23, 2012

Activity in Europe’s offshore wind sector continues to increase, as European government and industry continue to follow through on plans to make the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Offshore wind installations are a big part of Germany’s groundbreaking plans to phase out nuclear power, while world wind energy leader Denmark intends to increase its already high percentage of wind power by tapping more offshore wind energy.

Wind turbine costs have been declining and their energy conversion efficiency increasing while fossil fuel costs have been rising. Nonetheless, high up-front capital costs, the challenges of deploying and maintaining wind turbines in harsh offshore environments and the cost, time and difficulties of constructing and maintaining offshore-to-grid connections has lead to criticism and questioning of Germany and other European countries’ historic and ambitious offshore wind energy targets.

Stronger and more consistent than winds on-shore, offshore winds hold tremendous energy potential. Oil and gas companies have been operating offshore in environmentally sensitive, harsh conditions for decades now, and government offshore wind power and industry proponents believe the challenges can and will be surmounted, however.

Germany & Denmark: Blazing the Offshore Wind Power Trail

Germany’s plan to phase out all 17 of its nuclear power plants — which have met around 20% of its electrical power needs — and shift to renewable energy by 2022 is the largest infrastructure investment program in Europe since WW-II and the Marshall Plan, Bloomberg News reported recently. The Merkel government’s energy plan calls for building offshore wind farms covering an area six times the size of New York City and building power lines “that could stretch from London to Baghdad,” according to the report.

Germany’s offshore wind and renewable energy drive is stimulating investment and sales across a wide range of alternative energy providers, including ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2012/03/23/germany-denmarks-renewable-energy-transition-empowering-offshore-wind/

[bananas]

5. k&r - offshore wind is a major resource. nt