The world’s first floating offshore wind farm, Hywind Scotland, is coming offline for three to four months for “heavy maintenance.”
Hywind Scotland‘s operator, Norwegian power giant Equinor, says that operational data has indicated that its wind turbines need work. The pilot project has been in operation since 2017, Electrek reported.
The five Siemens Gamesa turbines will be towed to Norway this summer. An Equinor spokesperson said, “This is the first such operation for a floating farm, and the safest method to do this is to tow the turbines to shore and execute the operations in sheltered conditions.”
Norwegian contractor Wergeland Group will undertake the work. The spokesperson added, “Wergeland is the closest port with offshore wind experience and sufficient water depth that can service these turbines.”
As the world’s first floating offshore wind farm, Hywind Scotland has trailblazed for much larger floating wind farms now in the pipeline.
Its five floating wind turbines have a total capacity of 30 megawatts (MW). It generates enough electricity to power the equivalent of 34,000 households in the UK. Each turbine’s maximum height, base to turbine, is 253 meters (830 feet).
Hywind Scotland, off the coast of Peterhead, the easternmost point in mainland Scotland, in Aberdeenshire, is in a water depth of 95-120 meters (312-394 feet). It has a spar-type substructure.
Equinor said in December 2022, when Hywind Scotland turned five, that it was the world’s best-performing offshore wind farm, achieving a capacity factor of 54% over its five years of operations.