HYDRAULIKPRESSE 2/2013 - einseitig - Hansa Flex

PraCtICal praxis
wind turbines generate clean electricity with every turn of their rotor
blades. But if one of these turbines is even visible from a housing
estate, it often causes resentment among the residents. so it only
makes sense to erect these structures where they are out of sight and the
wind blows almost constantly. These requirements are met with offshore
wind farms. One of the world’s foremost providers in this industry and a pioneer
in the field is the Bard Group, headquartered in emden.
Since it was founded in 2003, the BarD Group has been dedicated to the exploitation
of new energy resources on the open seas. the mission of the group
is to develop innovative solutions for combining highly advanced technologies
with sustainable climate protection. to this end, it operates a special crane ship,
named “wind lift 1”, which has been purpose-built for erecting and subsequently
operating the turbines. Installation of the turbines is the task of BarD
Building Gmbh & Co. kG, while BarD Service Gmbh is responsible for operating
them.
Bard OFFsHOre 1
Since early 2010, BarD has been building Germany’s first commercial open sea
wind farm about 100 kilometres off the coast of Borkum. It is called “BarD offshore
1”. when it is completed in late 2013, the 80 wind turbines in the farm will
generate a nominal output of 400 megawatts, enough to supply the needs of
more than 400,000 households. even now, nine months before its completion,
“BarD offshore 1” is Germany’s largest and most productive offshore wind farm
by far. In March 2013, 72 foundations were built and 40 turbines, each with an
output of 50 megawatts began operations in the seas off Borkum. the BarD Group
developed and patented a system called the “tripile” foundation system especially
for this wind farm. the system is perfectly adapted to deal with the conditions that
prevail at the north Sea construction site.
cOnsTrucTiOn On THe HiGH seas
the “wind lift 1”, which is called a “jack-up barge”, is at the site off the coast of Borkum
in order to raise the wind turbines into position. the vessel is a self-propelled
lifting platform with a gigantic crane. In order to be able to ram the foundations of
the wind turbines into the seabed 40 metres below the water surface and despite
the movement of the water, four jacking legs, each 72 metres long, are hydraulically
lowered to the sea floor and raise the vessel out of the water. this turns the
“wind lift 1” into a safe, stable working platform that can continue working at full
capacity even while five-metre waves thunder below and force seven winds rage
above. to ensure that the three piles that make up the “tripile” foundation system
are driven into the sea floor perfectly vertically, the engineers from emden created
the 300-ton “Pile Guidance Frame” (PGF). the piles are kept vertical by an ingenious
hydraulic system that includes a total of twelve hydraulic cylinders on two
levels. In order to create this hydraulic system, the German offshore innovators approached
our colleagues in the Industrial Service department at the hanSa-FleX
branch in wilhelmshaven.
Hydraulics TO THe HiGHesT speciFicaTiOns
after BarD placed its order in late 2011, the Industrial Service team at wilhelmshaven
set to work immediately on the largest project it had ever received. “one
particular requirement was that the unit had to be installed in the container and
the hydraulic cylinders had to be aligned”, reports timo Matusch, Deputy regional
Manager for hanSa-FleX. “our colleagues in Industrial Service took care of that.”
Since the twelve hydraulic cylinders of the PGF had to deliver colossal forces in order
to keep the piles in position, an enormously powerful plant had to be designed
and built. the plant, with a power output of 2 x 75 kw, had to be protected g
Foto/Photo: BarD-Gruppe Foto/Photo: BarD-Gruppe Foto/Photo: BarD-Gruppe
seit dem Frühjahr 2010 errichtet Bard rund 100 kilometer vor Borkum den ersten kommerziellen
Hochsee-Windpark deutschlands namens „Bard Offshore 1“. Von der entwicklung und
konstruktion über die errichtung bis hin zum Betrieb der anlagen liegen sämtliche leistungen
in der Hand der Bard-Gruppe.
since early 2010, Bard has been building “Bard Offshore 1”, Germany’s first commercial
wind farm on the open sea, about 100 kilometres off the coast of Borkum. From development
to design, installation and operation, all activities relating to the turbines and masts are
assured from within the Bard Group.
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