End of the Road for World's Oldest Offshore Windfarm

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The world's first offshore windfarm is being retired from service after 25 years of operation.

Danish energy giant DONG Energy A/S (Fredericia, Denmark) is in the process of decommissioning the Vindeby windfarm, located just 1.5-3 kilometres (km) from the shore of Lolland in southeast Denmark. Commissioned in 1991, it had 11 turbines with a rated capacity of 0.45-megawatts each and a total generating capacity of 5-MW. It supplied enough power for approximately 2,200 households over the past 25 years, generating a total of 243 gigawatt hours (GWh) of power. Vindeby is considered tiny by today's standards. Seven of the largest offshore wind turbines being installed today can produce the same amount of power in a year.

In comparison, DONG's Hornsea Project One offshore wind project under construction off the east coast of England will be located 120 km offshore to avail of stronger winds. There will be 171 turbines standing more than three times the height of those at Vindeby and capable of generating 7 MW each. The windfarm will produce 1,200 MW of electricity and be capable of powering more than 1 million homes when it is commissioned in 2020. Industrial Info reported that DONG had made a final investment decision regarding the project in February last year. For additional information, see February 8, 2016, article--DONG Commits to $6 Billion Hornsea Offshore Wind Project in U.K..

Despite the small size of its turbines and the low power output, Vindeby was a pioneering success for the offshore wind sector, according to Leif Winther, responsible for DONG Energy's Danish offshore windfarms.

"Vindeby Offshore windfarm is almost miniature-size in comparison with the giant projects which are now being realised in Northern Europe," he said. "But without the experience gained from the world's first offshore windfarm, we wouldn't be where we are today. It's fair to say that Vindeby is the cradle of the offshore wind industry, and that this is where the industry was born."

He added: "Vindeby played a decisive role in scaling up the technology and reducing the costs to a level that makes offshore wind attractive to many countries facing replacement of end-of-life coal-fired power plants with new green energy sources."

During decommissioning, the blades, nacelles and towers will be dismantled and taken down individually by a mobile crane on board a jack-up vessel. The concrete foundations will be broken down on site and collected afterwards. The components and foundations will be sent onshore to Nyborg Harbour where the components will be reused where possible as spare parts for other wind turbines. One of the wind turbines will be rebuilt to become an exhibit at the Danish Museum of Energy.

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