Offshore staff
STAVANGER, Norway – Equinor’s Hywind Scotland floating offshore wind farm achieved the highest average capacity factor last year for any UK wind farm.
The average figure of 57.1% in the 12 months to March 2021 also represented a new UK record, the company claimed.
During its first two years of operation, Hywind Scotland’s average capacity factor was 54%, compared to a UK offshore wind average of around 40%. The capacity factor is the ratio of actual energy output over a given period, up to the maximum possible output.
A higher capacity factor also indicates lower levels of intermittency.
Sensors on the Hywind Scotland turbines, according to plant manager Sonja Chirico Indrebø, are designed to supply as much data from the wind farm as possible.
“We’re monitoring everything from ballast, mooring, structural strains and the more regular wind turbine sensor data, looking at how best to optimize this innovative technology as we prepare to develop at scale.
“We’re sharing parts of this data across industry to help the advancement of the technology globally and more widely than just our own operations.”
Hywind Scotland, completed in 2017, was the world’s first commercial floating offshore wind farm. Equinor is currently developing a larger wind park in the North Sea, Hywind Tampen, to power the Gullfaks and Snorre fields.
03/23/2021
