News
06-20-2008
Production starts on Offshore Residential and Converter Platform
BARD-Service team will keep round the clock watch on wind farm
The Lithuanian shipyard, Western Shipyard (WSY) in Klaipeda has started the production of the residential and converter platform for the „BARD Offshore 1“ wind farm. According to information from the BARD Group it should be ready for operation in July 2009. „The shipyard focuses on special requirements from the offshore industry“, says Anton Baraev, Executive Manager at BARD Engineering GmbH, referring to the qualifications of WSY. The Lithuanian shipyard is also building the BARD jack-up vessel, the “Wind Lift 1” with which the company will install the first wind power plants at sea in the coming year.
The new residential and converter platform stands on a substructure, a supporting framework construction which is set on the sea bed. It has an area of 42 by 42 meters and measures a total of 25 meters from the lowest deck to the roof of the helicopter landing tower. The total height of the construction is 84 meters, the lowest deck is approximately 20 meters above the water surface. A BARD service and repair team will be stationed round the clock on the platform. In all, 20 air-conditioned double cabins are available for staff. Besides workshops, control and storage rooms there is also a complete catering centre, as well as common rooms and technical facilities on all five decks.
The energy sea cables from the wind farm will converge on the platform. Each group of eight wind power plants forms a so-called cluster. The clusters are connected to the converter platform where the 33,000-volt alternating current from the plants is converted to alternating current with 155,000 volts and fed into the grid of the E.ON Netz GmbH. E.ON transports the „green current“ to the mainland. The total output of the farm is 400 megawatt. According to plan, the first of the in total 80 „BARD VM" wind energy converters will be built in the spring of 2009. The offshore wind power plant, about 100 kilometres north-west of Borkum, will be completed by the end of 2010. The first offshore wind electricity will be fed into the grid as soon as the first cluster is put into operation.
The platform is equipped with two 20 ton cranes and will be serviced by ship from Emden which will also remove all waste disposals every two weeks. The floatable residential and converter platform will be towed after completion in June 2009 directly into the project area by two tug boats from Klaipeda. Firstly, the substructure will be sunk to the sea bed. Next, a special hydraulic system on the four support piles will pull the deck to the designated height above the water surface. Finally, pile drivers will anchor the platform 45 meters deep in the sea bed. Upon completion the whole construction will weigh about 7,500 tons.
The BARD wind farm tender, which at present is under construction at the Abeking & Rasmussen shipyard in Lemwerder, will also be stationed on the platform. The special ship with SWATH technology lies calmly on the water, even when the sea is rough. Via this, the service personnel can get safely from the platform to the individual wind energy converters.