“uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç

With final government approval and a power purchase contract expected "very soon," Danish utility Elsam plans to begin sea bed work this spring for what will be the world's largest offshore wind farm, at Horns Rev, 14 kilometres off the west coast of Jutland. Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems A/S will provide 80, 2 MW machines, which are planned to be built and commissioned next year -- though the contract has not yet been finalised. The project was initially expected to be complete by 2004, but the utility has tightened the timetable considerably.

"We're quite busy," explains project leader Jens Bonefeld of Elsam. In late January, Elsam was still studying bids for foundations and cabling. "If the turbines are to be erected next summer, we must allow for production time for the foundations and cables and the manufacture of the machines themselves already this spring," he says.

Horns Rev is the first of five 150 MW offshore demonstration wind farms that the Danish government has planned to build by 2008 (“uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç, May 2000). In January, Vestas was chosen from the five wind companies that bid on the DKK 1 billion (EUR 135 million) project. The other firms were Denmark's NEG Micon and Bonus, German Enercon and American Enron.

The turbines will have a rotor diameter of 80 metres and a hub height of 60 to 70 metres. They will be arranged in a grid pattern, with 560 metres between each unit. "We are, of course, very aware that it's not going to be easy to erect 80 turbines in just one season under the often extreme conditions in the North Sea," notes Bonefeld.