Offshore Wind Farms – List of the Major Offshore Wind Projects and Future Wind Plants

Offshore Wind Farms are the fastest growing segments in the Wind Energy Industry area boosted by improvements in Wind Technology  and subsidies by the government.Offshore Wind  Energy is growing the fasted in the United Kingdom which is surprising considering the poor state of Green Energy there.Europeans are leading the way in offshore wind energy given their massive strengths in Wind Technology.However other major Wind Turbine Companies are also developing their capabilities by spending millions of dollars on offshore wind turbine R&D.Offshore Wind Farms have also come in for criticism because of their higher costs and the longer time to install them.Note offshore wind projects offer even more Wind Energy Advantages than normal Land Based Wind Farms.The only problem facing offshore wind power is high costs  as the industry still is on the learning curve with only 1.5% of the world’s total installed wind capacity coming from offshore wind farms.

List of Offshore Wind Farm Projects

First Wind Farm in the World was built at  Vindeby in Denmark in 1991 with a capacity of around 5 MW

United Kingdom has the the largest offshore wind capacity in the world at around 1300 MW and is also home to the biggest offshore wind farm at Thanet.

1. Thanet     300 MW  100 × Vestas V90-3MW
2. Lynn and Inner Dowsing     194MW     54 × Siemens 3.6-107
3. Robin Rigg (Solway Firth)   180MW          60 × Vestas V90-3MW
4. Gunfleet Sands                         172MW         48 × Siemens 3.6-107
5. Kentish Flats     90MW   30 × Vestas V90-3MW
6. Barrow     90 MW   30 × Vestas V90-3MW
7. Burbo Bank     90  MW   25 × Siemens 3.6-107
8. Rhyl Flats     90 MW    25 × Siemens 3.6-107
9. North Hoyle     60  MW 30 × Vestas V80-2MW
10. Scroby Sands     60  MW    30 × Vestas V80-2MW

Denmark

Denmark which is the home base of the largest Wind Turbine Manufacturer in the world Vestas and also draws the largest amount of electricity from Wind Power also holds the distinction of building the first offshore wind farm in 1991.The country has the second largest offshore wind capacity at 850 MW.The main offshore wind farms in Denmark are

1. Horns Rev I     160 MW 80 × Vestas V80-2MW
2. Horns Rev II     209  MW 91 × Siemens 2.3-93
3. Rødsand II     207   MW  90 × Siemens 2.3-93
4. Nysted (Rødsand I)     166 MW  72 × Siemens 2.3
5. Middelgrunden     40 MW  20 × Bonus (Siemens) 2MW

Europe (except UK and Denmark)

Northern Europe has most of the offshore wind farms in the world with 39 Offshore Wind Projects constructed with around 2.4 GW of capacity which makes up 80% of the world’s total offshore wind capacity.Note tremendous growth has been planned with 100 GW of offshore wind farms to be installed by 2020 with Europe having a 40% global capacity target.Note Vestas and Siemens are the leading provider of offshore wind turbines accounting for majority of the shipments till date.Vestas has further strengthened its leadership by introducing a 5 MW offshore wind turbine.Most of the wind turbines installed have been 3 MW turbines.

European Countries

1. Bligh Bank (Belwind)     165 MW      Belgium     55 × Vestas V90-3MW
2. Thornton Bank I     30  MW    Belgium     6 × REpower 5 MWLillgrund     110  MW     Sweden     48 × Siemens 2.3
3. Egmond aan Zee     108  MW   Netherlands     36 × Vestas V90-3MW
4. Alpha Ventus     60 MW     Germany     6 × REpower 5M,6 × AREVA Wind M5000-5M
5. Kemi Ajos I + II     30  MW    Finland     10 × WinWinD 3MW
6. Vänern (Gässlingegrund)     30 MW     Sweden     10 × WinWinD WWD-3-100

China

Asia has only one offshore wind farm built till date at 102-megawatt Donghai Bridge Wind Farm  located 5 to 8 miles off the coast of the East China Sea in China.Note China plans to build a number of offshore wind farms and the Chinese Wind Turbines companies are already devloping large 5 MW or higher capacity turbines targeting this market.

Future Offshore Wind Projects

Most of the big Offshore Wind Projects are being built in Europe in the leading offshore wind country UK with Germany following close behind.

UK

1. London Array     630 MW        175 × Siemens 3.6-120
2. Bard 1     400   MW  80 × BARD 5.0
3. Sheringham Shoal     315   MW  88 × Siemens 3.6-107
4. Lincs     270 MW 75 x 3.6MW
5. Walney Phase 1     183.6    MW     51 x Siemens 3.6Walney Phase 2     183.6    MW  51 x Siemens 3.6
6. Ormonde     150 MW     30 × REpower 5M

Italy

1. Tricase     90  MW   38 × 2.4 MW

Germany

1. Greater Gabbard     504  MW140 × Siemens 3.6-107
2. Baltic 1     48   MW    21 × Siemens 2.3-93

USA

Cape Wind Project Nantucket Sound in Massachusetts

Summary

The biggest offshore wind farm is just 300 MW in capacity while some of the offshore wind farms being planned have a capacity as great as 9000 MW which will challenge the biggest power plants in the world in terms of size and scale.Offshore wind energy represents a great opportunity for the industry as the investments involved will be quite large and the potential huge.This is the reason that even non-wind companies like Northrop Grumman,Daewoo are also entering the Offshore Wind Energy Industry as they are closely related to their shipbuilding industry.

source – Wikipedia for the Wind Farms