European Energy and Vestas have teamed up to make the Danish city of Frederikshavn a global “focal point” for test and demonstration of new offshore wind technology.
Three of the five planned test sites, which are currently under development by European Energy approximately four km off the coast near the city of Frederikshavn, will be used for Vestas’ newest V236-15.0MW turbine model.
European Energy has been developing the project for several years.
Company chief executive Knud Erik Andersen said: “We look forward to our cooperation with Vestas in turning the city of Frederikshavn into a focal point of future offshore wind turbine technology.
“If we succeed in constructing these wind turbines off the coast of Frederikshavn, Denmark will position itself as the global centre not only of wind turbine development, but also regarding the testing of future offshore wind turbine technology.”
In February of last year, Vestas revealed its latest offshore wind turbine the V236-15.0MW, and is now producing the first prototype that is expected to be constructed in the Danish onshore test center Osterild later this year.
Vestas sees it as an important milestone in the roll-out of the latest wind turbine technology to be able to construct and test the wind turbines in an offshore environment near the city of Frederikshavn.
Vestas offshore wind technology head Christian Gjerlov said: “The position will provide us with a unique opportunity to test the offshore wind turbines close to our factories and research facilities in Denmark prior to the serial production and export to the global market.
“If the project at Frederikshavn is successfully realised, it will play a key role in our future offshore wind business.”
Vestas aims at using the offshore wind test turbines to prove the viability of the technology in an offshore environment and also provide early know-how with the installation methods and training of technicians as a means to ensuring that the installation and management of the offshore wind turbines can be done as safely and effectively as possible.
In 2018, the city council of Frederikshavn greenlit the further development of the offshore wind power project.
Since then, European Energy has worked to complete the required environment impact assessments that have now been approved by the Danish Energy Agency and are submitted for public consultation later this month.
The aim is to realise the project by 2024.
“If we are successful in constructing the offshore wind turbines, we are planning to move forward with a Power-to-X-facility on the port of Frederikshavn, where we will turn the green power into green fuels that can help the shipping industry run on renewable energy,” said Andersen.