Wind Turbine Specialists in Extreme Conditions
Bonus Energy has a reputation of being first with the biggest and the biggest with a first. Now Bonus is to erect Denmark’s next major offshore wind farm
Gigantic power plants spouting up in Danish coastal waters
The wind blows almost constantly. It’s level and uninhabited – apart from birds, fish and other marine life, that is. The sea is ideally suited for extracting renewable wind energy. That is, if you are up to the task of constructing offshore wind turbines measuring almost 100 m, many kilometres from the nearest shore.
An objective of Danish energy policy is that 50 per cent of the country’s electricity is to be derived from renewable energy sources before the year 2030. This objective has helped to propel the Danish wind turbine industry into becoming the biggest, best and most efficient in the world. Globally speaking, Danish turbine technology accounts for approximately 50 per cent of wind energy. This is largely due to the fact that Danish wind turbine manufacturers were quick to spot the offshore potential for wind energy.
Today, wind energy supplies approximately 12 per cent of Danish electricity and, in the future, a larger part of wind energy will be derived from offshore wind farms.
As early as the autumn of 1991, the world’s first offshore wind farm began to produce electricity for the Danish power grid. The Vindeby wind farm was supplied by Bonus Energy A/S, which will now also be supplying turbines for the latest addition in the way of offshore wind farms. Nysted Havvind-møllepark will be sited in the Baltic Sea, to the south of Lolland, and – once it is completed in 2003 – will have a total output of approximately 150 MW, enough to supply 110,000 households with electricity.
“Terrific developments have taken place with regard to offshore power since we began in 1990,” explains Palle Nørgaard, managing director of Bonus Energy A/S. “When we constructed the Vindeby offshore wind farm, we installed 11 turbines, each of 450 kW. That produces a combined effect of 5 MW. The new wind farm will consist of 72 turbines, each of 2.2 MW, which will be set up approximately 9 km from the coast at water depths varying between 6 and 10 m. That will be quite a building site.”
In connection with the project, Bonus Energy has decided to set up its own blade factory close to one of the offshore areas in Ålborg. The blades, up to 40 m in length, will be transported from here for direct erection at sea. Over the last three years at the blade factory, the company has been working on a brand-new concept in blade production, with the fibreglass blades being cast in one complete section. This gives the colossal blades previously unheard-of strength.
Although as a manufacturer of wind turbines Bonus Energy is ’only’ the third largest in Denmark, the company looks set to have a large number of “first-and-biggest” projects all over the world. The first wind farm of 1991, the largest offshore wind farm so far, Middelgrunden, which stands in Øresund outside Copenhagen; the world’s second largest land-based wind farm in Texas, USA; the first in Scotland; the biggest in Finland and the biggest in Japan, etc.
Palle Nørgaard, managing director of Bonus Energy A/S
“We have often been selected in connection with forward-looking development projects,” says Nørgaard. “And frequently when the turbines have to be positioned in particularly exposed places and when the turbines have to be adapted for special conditions such as high or low temperatures. Our organisation is set up with a flat structure, with short and simple management paths. This allows room for creativity and innovation, while also keeping development costs at a level that maintains quality and makes the wind turbines financially attractive. The organisational structure also allows us to be good at systematising large, technically challenging projects.”
The offshore project in the Baltic Sea will build on experience gained from Bonus Energy’s other offshore wind farms, for example when it comes to the frequency of lightning, servicing the wind turbines and not least, of course, the logistics problems in connection with erecting the actual turbines. The actual foundations and cable laying/connection to the grid lie outside the mandate of Bonus Energy. The offshore wind farm is owned, and will be operated, by a consortium consisting of the Greater Copenhagen energy company ENERGI E2, Dansk Olie- og Naturgasselskab DONG and the Swedish electricity company Sydkraft.
Bonus Energy A/S, a family-owned joint stock company, currently employs more than 500 staff. The company has 20 years’ experience and approximately 4,300 turbines in place all over the world – from Finland in the north to Argentina in the south. In an industry that can often be turbulent because of high rates of growth, the company is characterised by longlasting employment relationships, good cash flow and healthy finances.
www.bonus.dk
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