Dong has kicked off decommissioning of the world’s first offfshore wind farm at Vindeby off Denmark.
The company is removing 11 Bonus 450kW turbines at the 26-year-old installation with blades, nacelle and tower being dismantled by a jack-up vessel.
Concrete gravity base foundations originally installed by MT Hojgaard will be broken down on site, mainly by hydraulic demolition shears, and removed.
Svensk Sjoentreprenad has been hired to carry out the work, as first reported last year in subscriber-only newsletter reNEWS.
The Swedish company has previous experiece with wind farm decommissioning having tackled similar work at Vattenfall’s 10MW Yttre Stengrund.
All components will be sent to Nyborg harbour where they will be reused as much as possible as spare parts, said Dong.
“Some of the blades will become part of a research project at DTU Risø while others will be reused in an innovative noise barrier concept. One wind turbine will also become part of the exhibition at the Danish Museum of Energy,” it added.
Leif Winther, responsible for Dong’s Danish offshore wind fleet, said: “Vindeby is almost miniature-size in comparison with the giant projects which are now being realised in Northern Europe.
“Without the experience gained from the world’s first offshore wind farm, we wouldn’t be where we are today. This is where the industry was born.”
Image: the end is nigh for Vindeby (Dong)
