Danish Crown Prince Frederik pressed the button last week to start the 209 MW Horns Rev II wind farm. Although the turbines initially failed to turn, half a minute later a slight breeze started roating the first blade much to the relief of executives from the companies responsible for developing the wind farm and their guests. Niels Bergh-Hansen, head of wind power at Dong, shrugged off the slow start at Horns Rev II. "The turbines are very heavy and it always takes time to get started. I had faith in the team out there and never doubted it would work fine."
Horns Rev II is located in the North Sea 14 kilometres west of Denmark. It will produce 2.2% of the kingdom's total power and is the first of its kind to be equipped with a platform where personnel can spend the night. The wind farm is 60% owned by the Vattenfall Group and 40% owned by Dong Energy and is currently the largest offshore wind energy development in the world, although it will lose this status once the Greater Gabbard field comes on stream in Britain followed later by the much larger London Array.
”This park confirms Denmark’s position as world champion of wind power. Having 20% of our total power supply covered by wind mills we are ahead by far. But we are not going to stop here. Over the coming four years we will triple our capacity for offshore wind power,” says Minister for Climate and Energy, Connie Hedegaard.
Fritz Schur, chairman of Dong, said his firm would triple its production capacity of clean energy by 2020. "Establishing Horns Rev 2 is an important milestone in Dong Energy's gradual transition from conventional to green power generation," he said.
For additional information:
