Deutsche Windtechnik has won a contract to equip the entire Nordergründe offshore wind farm (OWF) with an Aircraft Detection Light System (ADLS).
Deutsche Windtechnik will equip the 111 MW wind farm with an ADLS, which comprises a total of 18 Senvion 6.2M 126 wind turbines.
All services related to the ADLS equipment’s installation, including the upgrade of the warning lights, as well as offshore logistics and support with approval procedures, will be conducted by Deutsche Windtechnik.
In the second half of 2021, the company had already installed the ADLS on two wind turbines at Nordergrunde and conducted tests that were completed successfully.
“The installation and connection of our ADLS test system to the existing wind farm control system and the technical infrastructure at the Nordergründe OWF went according to plan and without complications. In addition, we have validated the operation of the ADLS and the data processing in the backend under offshore-specific conditions. This included different weather scenarios and flight frequencies, such as those that occur near military training bases with more frequent flight operations,” explained Matthias Brandt , Director of Deutsche Windtechnik.
Preparations are now underway to complete the installation of the ADLS at Nordergründe, with retrofits starting in spring 2022.
Deutsche Windtechnik entered into a cooperation with f.u.n.k.e Avionics GmbH to develop a complete solution for the transponder-based ADLS that will be installed on the German offshore wind farm.
According to the companies, the hardware of the offshore ADLS is partially different from the onshore version. While the Transponder Receiver Module (TRM) installed inside of the nacelle is identical, the offshore system antenna unit mounted on the turbine roof is made of materials that are more resistant to corrosion.
“Even though offshore wind turbines in Germany do not need to be retrofitted with ADLS until the end of 2023, we wanted to seize the opportunity and install the ADLS now to avoid night-time light emissions coming from the nearshore site , ” said Eckhard Stürtz , Managing Director of the operating company Nordergründe.
Located some 15 kilometres northeast of the Wangerooge Island in the German North Sea, Nordergrunde has been in operation since December 2017.
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