Download WindpowerUpdate 15 - Nordex

The wind farm starts five kilometres above the port facilities.
All of Havøysund’s five roads used to end at the town’s last
houses. Now, there is a gravel road leading up the hill behind
the cemetery. The dark stone is covered only by moss and lichen.
The 16 turbines operate at altitudes of between 250 and 280
metres, with the 80 metre high towers providing a fantastic view
across the Arctic Sea.
Havøygavlen lies at the end of the world, which is why
Nordex has fitted the 2.5 MW turbines with a power crane
system; a special facility developed for offshore use. In this way,
all main components can be replaced without the need for an
external crane, allowing time to be saved and doing away with
the need to transport heavy equipment.
Ingalill Olsen has been observing the construction work from
her desk since April 2, 2002. The most important woman in the
town watched the 11 kilometre network arising on the hill. She
also heard the explosions when holes were dug in the naked
stone of the hill for the 16 base elements, each one three metres
deep and ten metres in diameter. She watched the heavy transporters
and the Caterpillar lug the individual turbine parts up
the mountain and technicians from Denmark and Germany
assemble the turbines as quickly as possible under the midnight
sun. The wind turbines have been watching over the fishing village
since August 22.
The 21 Måsøy town elders were unanimously in favor of constructing
the wind farm – not only because it created a number
of long-term jobs but also because they all realized the advantages
of “good energy”. “This location offers decisive advantages
over other places,” says Ingalill Olsen. In addition to our
port and the support on the part of our population, reindeer play
a key role in this region, wandering between the summer fields
along the coast and the winter locations in the interior. However,
as there are no reindeer on the island of Havøya, negotiations
with the locals were not necessary.
The wind farm generates enough electricity for 6,000 households.
In Germany, this volume of electricity would be sufficient
for seven times as many households. However, no other country
in the world consumes as much electricity per capita as Norway.
And nowhere is this truer than in Finnmark. In fact, Ingalill Olsen
alone needs around 28,000 KWh per year. The country’s energy
ministry is expecting a further increase in consumption. For this
reason, parliament passed a bill in March 2001 providing for the
establishment of a state energy agency. Its duties will include
revising energy policy, promoting regenerative sources of energy
and implementing measures to ensure more efficient use
of energy. Known as Enova, it commenced its operations in
January 2002. At this stage, Norway had 28 wind turbines with
an output totalling 17 MW.
The Havøygavlen wind park is a decisive step towards reaching
the national goal of generating 3 TWh from wind power by
2010. A further five projects with total annual output of 605 GWh
have already been approved. “We consider the target to be realistic
and are sure that we will achieve it by 2010,” says Dr. ing.
Magnar Førde, director of regenerative energy at Enova.
The world’s northern-most wind farm is a reference project
for both Norway and for Nordex, which assembled the 16
turbines on a turn-key basis for operator Arctic wind, a joint venture
forged by Norway’s largest industrial group Norsk Hydro
and Dutch utility Nuon as well as the planning agency Norsk
Beautiful view from the top of one of the Havøygavlen turbines.
Miljøkraft. Enova contributed 3 8 million to the 3 40 million
project. “This wind farm marks the entry to an interesting new
market for us,” says Dietmar Kestner, CEO at Nordex AG.
Nordex is now also engaged in negotiations with Norsk
Miljøkraft concerning a 200 MW wind farm 500 km south of
Havøysund.
“Conditions here on the coast are ideal for our N80 turbines,”
says Tage Christensen, project manager at Nordex. The climate
is moderate thanks to the Gulf stream, with winter temperatures
rarely dropping below minus 26 degrees Celsius. On the
other hand, there is a steady wind with an average annual speed
of 9 metres per second. If the wind speed exceeds 25 m/sec, the
turbines automatically disengage. Although construction work
was interrupted for five days due to a gale twice this speed, the
40-year old mechanical engineer sitting in his office container
at the port says that this was an exception. “This project is also
a test for our offshore units.” Looking forward, Nordex also
wants to assemble the N80, the world’s largest series turbine,
in offshore locations.
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