The first ever floating wind farm started producing electricity off the Scottish coast. With a capacity of 30 MW, it can produce enough electricity to power 20,000 homes. A technological feat that opens up great prospects.
25 kilometers off the coast of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, the first floating wind farm began supplying the onshore power grid. Five windmills of 6 megawatts each rise 253 meters high to capture winds averaging 10 meters per second. And the most surprising is that these giants are not fixed in the ground, they float! The Hywind Scotland wind farm is capable of supplying up to 20,000 homes. It is the Norwegian oil company Statoil which is at the origin of this concept which has resorted to unprecedented engineering and logistics techniques.
Each wind turbine is installed on a huge semi-submerged float 90 meters long and 14 meters in diameter weighing 3,500 tons. This cylinder is ballasted with 5,000 tons of iron ore. It does not rest on the seabed but is connected by cables to three anchoring systems each measuring 5 meters in diameter for 16 meters high and weighing 111 tons. These anchors are driven into the ground by suction. Software manages the floatation of the wind turbine by adjusting the orientation of the blades to ensure maximum stability.