Power loss a blow to wind farm

Published on Sunday 13 August 2006 00:42

ONE of the UK's biggest offshore wind farms is producing less than a third of the electricity it should be, a new report has found.

The 30-turbine Scroby Sands wind farm built off the coast of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, has generated only 28.9% of the power it was built to provide, according to the government's first annual report into the 67m development.

The report from the Department of Trade and Industry shows that the wind farm experienced numerous mechanical problems which significantly lowered production.

Between January and December last year, 27 intermediate speed and 12 high speed gearbox bearings needed replacing, along with four generators.

The report states that after extensive investigation "work is now at hand to resolve these issues" but that they had "serious implications for resources, costs and downtime".

According to the report, the wind farm's capacity factor percentage - the amount of electricity compared with what it would be if the turbines were turning 100% of the time - reached a peak in January, 2005, with 48.9%. But by June it was 20% and it never again went higher than 30%, giving an average over the year of 28.9%.

Jason Scagell, director of E.ON UK, which owns the wind farm, said that lessons would be learned from the development.

"We were very happy with Scroby's performance in the first half of the year, particularly as the operation was in its infancy, but the second half was less satisfactory due to a number of defects with the gearboxes and generators," Scagell said.

"Scroby Sands was and remains a pioneering project from which lessons will be learned.

"We're certainly keen to continue working offshore and have four projects in various states of advancement that will allow us to use the lessons from Scroby in larger developments."