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Vindeby Offshore Wind Farm was the first offshore
wind farm A wind farm, also called a wind park or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turbines covering an exten ...
in the world, erected in 1991 off the coast of the town of Vindeby on the Danish island of
Lolland Lolland (; formerly spelled ''Laaland'', literally "low land") is the List of islands of Denmark#List of 100 largest Danish islands, fourth largest island of Denmark, with an area of . Located in the Kattegat, Belts and Sund area, it is part of Re ...
. It was decommissioned for cost reasons in 2017 after 25 years of useful life.


History

Elkraft, one of the predecessors of DONG Energy (now Ørsted), began considering offshore turbines in 1987, and surveyed the waters around
Lolland Lolland (; formerly spelled ''Laaland'', literally "low land") is the List of islands of Denmark#List of 100 largest Danish islands, fourth largest island of Denmark, with an area of . Located in the Kattegat, Belts and Sund area, it is part of Re ...
in 1989.Elkraft igang med verdens første offshore møllepark
''
Ingeniøren ''Ingeniøren'' (full name: ''Nyhedsmagasinet Ingeniøren'', literally ''The News Magazine "The Engineer"'') is a Danish weekly newspaper specialising in engineering topics. History and profile The paper has covered science and technology issues ...
'', 18 August 1989. Accessed: 9 February 2016.
The wind farm started operation in 1991 and cost an estimated €10 million, built by SEAS and Elkraft. The 11 turbines were erected in 11 days. The electricity industry at the time generally considered offshore turbines to be ludicrous, as they must operate in salty conditions and have much smaller output than central power plants.Korsgaard Nielsen, Michael.
Farvel til verdens første hav-møller
''
Berlingske ''Berlingske'', previously known as ''Berlingske Tidende'' (, 'Berling's Times'), is a Danish national daily newspaper based in Copenhagen. It is considered a newspaper of record for Denmark. First published on 3 January 1749, ''Berlingske'' is ...
'', 8 February 2016
Korsgaard Nielsen, Michael.
Fra energiens originaler til bølgernes gulddrenge
''
Berlingske ''Berlingske'', previously known as ''Berlingske Tidende'' (, 'Berling's Times'), is a Danish national daily newspaper based in Copenhagen. It is considered a newspaper of record for Denmark. First published on 3 January 1749, ''Berlingske'' is ...
'', 8 February 2016
The skeptical attitude had changed 6 years later, as offshore winds drove more energy production than those on land. A single wind turbine had been erected in Swedish waters earlier, but Vindeby was the first collection of turbines, making it the first offshore wind farm. Four years later, the similar sized Tunø Knob wind farm was made. Tests were done to learn what to do and what not to do. Experience from Vindeby contributed to the development of cheaper ways to extract
power Power may refer to: Common meanings * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power, a type of energy * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events Math ...
from offshore winds.Andersen, Jan.
Stålfundamenter gør havmøller billigere
''
Ingeniøren ''Ingeniøren'' (full name: ''Nyhedsmagasinet Ingeniøren'', literally ''The News Magazine "The Engineer"'') is a Danish weekly newspaper specialising in engineering topics. History and profile The paper has covered science and technology issues ...
'', 14 January 1997. Accessed: 9 February 2016.
The original government concession was for 25 years, from 1991 to 2016. In 2016, DONG Energy first considered shutting down the wind farm, as it was well past its design life and had become uneconomical. Vindeby was the first in a long line of successful wind farms which led a downwards cost trend. Vindeby was the first wind farm to be decommissioned by Dong Energy, which was completed in September 2017. In 25 years, Vindeby had produced a total of 243 GWh.


Technology

The developers contracted Bonus Energy to supply 11
wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that wind power, converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of list of most powerful wind turbines, large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over ...
s (450 kW each) for the project, placed in shallow waters. The annual power was equivalent to 2-3,000 Danish households. The turbines were modified for offshore use by sealing the towers and controlling the
humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation (meteorology), precipitation, dew, or fog t ...
inside with
air conditioning Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C (US) or air con (UK), is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior temperature, and in some cases, also controlling the humidity of internal air. Air c ...
, extending the life of the machinery.Stenstrop, Georg
Vindeby
''Kulturarv''. Retrieved: 9 February 2016
Archive
/ref> The area was also used for a wave plant in 2010.


Recycling and waste management

When the Vindeby Offshore Wind Farm was taken down in 2017, most of the components were
recycled Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. This concept often includes the recovery of energy from waste materials. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the propert ...
into new use, particularly metals and concrete. Most of the 33 wind turbine blades (1.2 tonnes each, 39 tonnes total) were sent to various organisations for further use. Most were examined by Risø, some were re-acquired by their manufacturer
LM Wind Power LM Wind Power (formerly LM Glasfiber) is a Danish manufacturer of wind turbine blades, and a subsidiary of GE Vernova. History LM Wind Power was founded in 1940, as ''Lunderskov Møbelfabrik'' (Lunderskov furniture factory) in the small town Lun ...
or displayed at museums, and some were recycled into
noise barrier A noise barrier (also called a soundwall, noise wall, sound berm, sound barrier, or acoustical barrier) is an exterior structure designed to protect inhabitants of sensitive land use areas from noise pollution. Noise barriers are the most effecti ...
s. However, 1.1 tonne of the
fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a common type of fibre-reinforced plastic, fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened i ...
from the hub ended as cut up at the Rærup Controlled
Landfill A landfill is a site for the disposal of waste materials. It is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of waste with daily, intermediate and final covers only began in the 1940s. In the past, waste was ...
near
Aalborg Aalborg or Ã…lborg ( , , ) is Denmark's List of cities and towns in Denmark, fourth largest urban settlement (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an Urban area, urban populati ...
, even though it is not an environmentally friendly way of handling waste. One turbine was set up as static display at the Energy Museum near
Bjerringbro Bjerringbro is a railway town located at the Langå-Struer Line, railway line between Viborg, Denmark, Viborg and Randers and lying on both sides of the Gudenå (''River Guden''). Until 1 January 2007 it was the municipal seat of the former Bjerr ...
in 2023.


See also

*
Windmill A windmill is a machine operated by the force of wind acting on vanes or sails to mill grain (gristmills), pump water, generate electricity, or drive other machinery. Windmills were used throughout the high medieval and early modern period ...
*
Wind power in Denmark Denmark was a pioneer in developing commercial wind power during the 1970s, and today a substantial share of the wind turbines around the world are produced by Danish manufacturers such as Vestasthe world's largest wind-turbine manufactureralo ...
*
List of offshore wind farms in Denmark This is a list of operational, offshore wind farms in Denmark (within the national maritime boundaries). Denmark's wind power generation is the highest in the world as a fraction of domestic consumption, reaching 47% in 2019. Data is primaril ...
*
List of offshore wind farms This article lists the largest offshore wind farms that are currently operational rated by nameplate capacity. It also lists the largest offshore wind farms currently under construction, the largest proposed offshore wind farms, and offshore ...


References


External links


Comparison sketch
''
Berlingske ''Berlingske'', previously known as ''Berlingske Tidende'' (, 'Berling's Times'), is a Danish national daily newspaper based in Copenhagen. It is considered a newspaper of record for Denmark. First published on 3 January 1749, ''Berlingske'' is ...
'', 8 February 2016 Offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea Wind farms in Denmark Buildings and structures in the Central Denmark Region Ørsted (company) wind farms Energy infrastructure completed in 1991 1991 establishments in Denmark 2017 disestablishments in Denmark