First wind turbine installed at Sandbank offshore wind farm
The first turbine at the Sandbank offshore wind farm was recently erected
Sandbank is being built 90km west of the island of Sylt and will include a total of 72 Siemens wind turbines of the type SWT-4.0-130. Erection of the towers on the foundations and installation of the nacelles and rotor blades will be carried out by the installation vessel MPI Adventure.
During the commissioning phase of the wind turbines, the service operations vessel Acergy Viking will be used. By employing this modified ship type, the project partners say they expect to save three months against the original planning. The walk-to-work vessel features a special gangway system that enables the commissioning team to climb onto the wind turbines directly, and also equalises the effect of any waves caused by the motion of the ship.
Sandbank is expected to go into full operation at the beginning of 2017. The wind farm will generate, in continuous operation, an annual amount of electricity corresponding to the consumption of 400,000 German households.
The investment costs for the Sandbank offshore wind farm are about EUR 1.2 billion. Vattenfall holds a 51% stake in Sandbank Offshore GmbH, which was set up to implement the project, while SWM holds a 49% stake. Each of the 72 Siemens wind turbines to be erected is in the 4-MW class, providing a total installed capacity of 288 MW. Sandbank is the second joint offshore wind project for Vattenfall and SWM. The first, DanTysk, has been in full operation since early 2015.
