Thomas Almegaard from DONG Energy, who is responsible for operations and maintenance at Nysted Offshore Wind Farm, praises his employees for their efforts throughout the years. Today, with its approximately 98 per cent availability, Nysted Offshore Wind Farm is one of the offshore wind farms with the highest availability*. "We have some incredibly dedicated employees employed at Nysted Offshore Wind Farm. They understand the wind turbines and are always abreast of potential problems. They don't leave work if a wind turbine reports an error, and they always leave the wind turbine just as spotless as their own living room," said Thomas Almegaard with a twinkle in his eye.
A pioneer within offshore wind farms
Nysted Offshore Wind Farm is known in the wind turbine industry and not least because it has been very important in connection with the development of offshore wind farms. Tove Feld, Head of Engineering in DONG Energy Wind Power, said that she believes that Nysted Offshore Wind Farm has been a stepping stone for subsequent offshore wind farms:
"At the beginning of 2000, Denmark became a technology hub within wind power and especially within offshore wind power with the construction of Horns Rev I and Nysted Offshore Wind Farm. It was pioneer work which has formed the basis for the development of subsequent offshore wind farms nationally and internationally."
Nysted Offshore Wind Farm has been an inspiration in several areas, she explained:
"Nysted Offshore Wind Farm and Horns Rev I formed the basis for the development of offshore wind turbines in a number of areas from EIA investigation (environmental impact assessment), preparation of preliminary surveys within geosciences, wind, waves, etc. Furthermore, the wind farms have also formed the basis for important knowledge in terms of design, wind farm layout, fabrication, testing, installation, substation concept, grid connection and operations and maintenance for future offshore wind farms. In other words, it is a wind farm which has contributed immensely to the technology development within the wind industry."
The now 10 years old offshore wind farm has been very important to the success that Denmark has achieved within the offshore wind farm area.
Training in Nysted
The employees at Nysted Offshore Wind Farm play an important role in sharing their knowledge and experience with colleagues in other countries, eg in the UK and Germany.
"At Nysted, we've had all technicians from London visit us to be trained in the work on logistics and systems related to offshore wind turbines. Our Borkum Riffgrund colleagues will also visit us to be trained," said Thomas Almegaard.
Tove Feld supplemented:
"The knowledge gained from Nysted Offshore Wind Farm is very valuable even today and it is still driving the development of offshore wind power. Especially within operations and maintenance of offshore wind turbines, but the wind farm has also contributed to creating international design standards using 10 years of documentation, such as eg design of gravity foundations."
Congratulations with the 10 year anniversary!
* Availability means how many hours the wind turbines are ready to operate calculated as a percentage of time.
