MHI Vestas Offshore Wind has contracted ABB to deliver its WindSTAR transformers specifically designed for floating wind turbines for the WindFloat Atlantic project offshore Portugal.
The transformers will be installed in each of the three turbines on WindFloat Atlantic, a floating offshore wind farm comprising the world’s largest and most powerful wind turbines ever installed on a floating foundation. The 8.4MW wind turbines are 190 meters tall to blade tip, more than double the height of the Statue of Liberty. Just three of these turbines will provide enough electricity for over 18,000 households in Portugal once in operation in 2019.
The WindFloat Atlantic wind farm will be positioned 20 kilometres off the coast of Viana de Castelo, Portugal, in a location where the sea is 100 metres deep.
ABB will supply its WindSTAR power transformers that are specifically engineered to be extra resilient against strong vibrations and extreme and sudden movements encountered on floating wind farms. The compact transformers are all designed to fit into the tower of offshore turbines, ABB said.
These 66kV transformers for floating applications present an important opportunity to facilitate offshore wind farms installed in deeper water, ABB said. Traditional wind turbines are not viable in deeper waters and require expensive and difficult-to-install subsea infrastructure. The 66kV voltage level is the highest wind turbine rating in the industry, allowing for significant reduction in transfer losses and enabling higher efficiency.
“These transformers are another pioneering ABB technology innovation which will facilitate the integration of more renewables into the grid,” said Markus Heimbach , Managing Director of ABB’s Transformers business unit, a part of the company’s Power Grids division.
“ABB technologies continue to shape the evolving grid with solutions that help run the world without consuming the earth.”
The WindFloat Atlantic project is being developed by the WindPlus consortium comprising EDP Renewables, Chiyoda Generating Europe (CGE), Diamond Generating Europe Limited (DGE), Trustwind and Repsol NE.