The Walney Extension offshore wind farm, with a capacity of 659 MW , was inaugurated on September 8, 2018 and according to the Guinness Book of Records 2020, it is located in the Irish Sea, about 19 kilometers from the coast from Walney Island (United Kingdom), and covers 145 square kilometers of ocean, which would be equivalent to about 20,000 football fields. The park was developed by the Danish company Ørsted. Its price was 1,300 million euros.
The Walney Extension wind farm has 189 turbines, each 190 meters high, producing enough renewable energy to supply 590,000 homes each year.
Is it still the largest in the world?
Norway appears to have overtaken Ireland as Hywind Tampen will become the world’s largest floating offshore wind farm. It is located in Norway and, there, the facility will have 11 Siemens Gamesa SG 8.0-167 DD generators. In addition, it will also be the first offshore wind farm to supply power to facilities such as offshore oil and gas platforms. When does it go into operation? It will start operating at the end of 2020.
The 88 MW capacity park is located 140 km from the coast in waters 300 meters deep. Adjacent oil rigs such as Snorre and Gullfaks will benefit from its energy.
Why on the high seas?
Wind farms obtain energy through the movement of the blades generated by the speed of the wind. But, like other renewable energy sources, it has a limitation: they depend on meteorological variability (whether there is more or less wind).
For this reason, offshore wind farms locate these mills offshore, at least 3 kilometers from the coast, where the wind speed is more constant . In addition, it has other advantages compared to mills installed on land: for example, the variation of temperatures in the high seas is less; As a consequence of the higher wind constancy, the useful life of the windmills is longer, and their performance is higher.
In addition, to place wind farms, there is more unused “land” offshore than on land. The only downside is that offshore wind farms are much more expensive to install.
According to Emiliano Soneira, senior technician in electrical installations, engineering studies specialized in public works, offshore wind farms have great potential. Regarding their impact on the environment, the remoteness of these parks from the coastal areas means that they are far from any maritime route and natural areas of interest. In addition, it has been shown that the birds kept away from the turbines and that the noise of the rotors did not move them away from their feeding areas, as the University of Denmark demonstrated, being a pioneer in the implementation of this technology, and the study of her about the environment.
Spain, despite being a country surrounded by the sea, does not yet have an offshore wind farm. As published by Emiliano Soneira in an article by the CEAC (Distance Professional and Technical Training Center), with this type of energy 25,000 MW of power could be generated in Spain until 2030, thus avoiding an emission of 25 million tons of Annual CO2.
