Tideland Signal has supplied Statoil ASA with a comprehensive package of aids to
navigation to warn shipping in the vicinity of its revolutionary Hywind floating wind
turbine.
Hywind, the world’s first full-scale,
floating wind turbine designed for
deployment offshore, is part of an NOK400m
project. It features a
2.3MW Siemens turbine with three
blades of 80m diameter, mounted
on a spar buoy. It can be located in
waters ranging from 120m to 700m
depth in order to take advantage of
optimum wind and environmental
conditions, also obviating the need for
foundations, which are extremely
expensive at depths greater than 30m-50m.
The structure is based on the proven
technology of a concrete semisubmersible,
familiar in offshore oil and
gas installations around the world. The
tower, rising to 65m above sea
level, is marked by three Tideland MLED-
155 Syncrolan, single-lift light station,
each with a range of 5Nm. They are
mounted on stainless steel pedestals at 120° intervals around the circumference of the
tower at a height of 15m and are equipped with 48hr battery back-up.
Tideland’s MLED-155 is designed for use with an external power source, in this case
solar, and offers minimal maintenance requirements and a service life of seven years on
stations in the most demanding environments. Long-life LEDs and high-integrity
electronics housed in a tough UV-resistant polycarbonate enclosure ensure the lantern
will not need to be opened during its service life and, when buoy-mounted, will even
withstand being submerged in salt water.
In the Hywind application, it is fitted with a yellow
MaxiHALO-60 multi-code LED flasher, sunswitch and
on-board GPS to synchronise the flash code.
Hywind was assembled at Åmøyfjorden near
Stavanger and is located 10km offshore from Karm oslash;y.
The two-year test programme, which feeds electricity
into Norway’s national grid via a submarine power
line, is designed to prove the concept of capturing
wind energy in deep-water environments, and to test
how wind and waves affect the structure.
The floater,
built by Technip, consists of a steel cylinder filled with
a ballast of water and rocks. It extends 100m
beneath the sea’s surface and is attached to the
seabed by a three-point mooring spread.