The first electricity produced at Horns Rev

On 29 July 2002 at 8.20 pm the first turbine was commissioned and the first power generated was transferred to the national grid. This turbine is the first to be connected to the offshore substation and as the cable installations are completed, more turbines will be connected in groups of 16 turbines.

Elsam initially expected to commission the first of five groups of 16 turbines in early July but some repair work had to be done due to damage on the main cable: a new piece of cable, 150 m in total, will be welded in to the 5-km main cable.

The repair work should be completed in the beginning of August and in the meantime Elsam has decided to connect the one turbine located closest to the substation to make the most of the time for testing commissioning procedures.

On 29 July 2002 at 8.20 pm the first turbine was connected to the grid.

All foundations in place

On August 1 the last of a total of 80 foundation piles was driven into the seabed. The last transition piece was installed on August 3! Hence, an important milestone was reached for the project. 

Preparation of transition pieces before installation. The black pipe next to the transition piece is the J-tube used for cable pulling.

By August 8, 63 turbines were erected including nacelles and rotors. Now, only 17 turbines are to be erected before all turbines are in place. The erection of turbines are made by means of the two vessels, Ocean Hanne and Ocean Addy. Under good weather conditions it is possible to erect two turbines per day (24 h). The work of erecting turbines should be completed by the end of August - all according to the time schedule.

By means of the two vessels Ocean Hanne and Ocean Addy it is possible to erect two turbines per day if weather conditions are optimal

By August 8, about 70 % of all cables had been pulled and washed into the seabed. The repair work of the main cable has been completed (please refer to the July News­letter). The main cable connects a group of 16 turbines to the transformer on the offshore substation. Soon all five main cables will be connected. After the cables have been pulled, the final connecting of each piece of cable is done before the turbine is released for final installations, testing and commissioning.

By August 8 one turbine is in operation whereas another seven turbines are ready for commissioning. All 80 turbines of the Horn's Reef offshore wind farm should be commissioned by the end of October 2002. 

The Horn's Reef offshore wind farm is taking shape.

Monitoring and control

The built-in control system automatically controls and operates the turbine as the turbines are gradually commissioned. However, due to the great extension and the location of the wind farm, each turbine is fitted with an advanced remote control system which enables monitoring and control of the entire wind farm from all locations of the Elsam group. Click here for a description of the system. 

Further technical details are available at:

Grid Connection and Remote Control for the Horns Rev 150 MW Offshore Wind Farm in Denmark
  / Peter Christiansen et al. (PDF-format)

Final installations, testing and commissioning will follow the final cable connection work.

Elsam and Eltra are preparing a video about the Horns Rev offshore wind farm. A short trailer is available. See trailer. 

The Horns Rev offshore wind farm is now visible from space. An ESA satellite called ERS-2, launched in April 1995, has transmitted this radar image of the Horns Rev wind farm.

ERS-2 has a fixed, repeated cycle of a 35 days. One of the instruments onboard the satellite is the SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar), which made this image on July 30, 2002.

The radar image was transferred via RAPIDS at the Dutch "National Aerospace Laboratory NLR". RAPIDS is a portable satellite data receiver. Read more about RAPIDS and ERS-2..

Radar image of Horn' Rev wind farm taken at 785 km's altitude by ERS-2 on July 30, 2002. 

Click for enlargement

Offshore wind farms and the environment - invitation to seminar

Tech-wise A/S, one of Elsam's subsidiaries, is in charge of the environmental management aspects of the Horns Rev project. Together with SEAS, Tech-wise invites to a seminar on Offshore Wind Farms and the Environment on November 4, 2002.

The seminar is primarily directed at parties involved in environmental evaluation and environmental monitoring programmes, public environmental authorities, developers and decision makers who are interested in the marine environment in connection with offshore wind farms. 

Read invitation.

Seminar about Offshore wind farms and the environment