RWE has completed the annual turbine maintenance campaign ahead of schedule at the 295MW Nordsee Ost offshore wind farm in the German North Sea.
A total of 75 technicians were on duty during the summer on the job and were able to complete the work of the 6MW hardware within six weeks, the company said.
Part of the work included checking the electrical and mechanical components of the individual turbines.
Technicians were tested for Covid-19 and, if clear, were brought from Cuxhaven to the wind farm location 35km north of the island of Helgoland by the offshore service vessel Stril Server.
There they worked in shifts around the clock on up to three turbines at the same time.
Individual service teams worked for two-week stretches before they went back to shore and another maintenance crew took over.
An average of 48 hours was taken to perform the work on each turbine despite difficult conditions, said RWE.
In addition to the turbines, the foundations were also inspected above and below the water, while various maintenance was carried out on the offshore substation.
RWE Renewables head of operation of offshore wind farms in continental Europe Enrico Schafer said: “For the first time, we carried out the entire annual maintenance of the turbines at our Nordsee Ost offshore wind farm ourselves – and that under the difficult conditions of the corona pandemic.
“It makes me all the more proud that our team on Helgoland, together with our service provider Rosch Industrieservice, completed this maintenance campaign successfully and well ahead of schedule.”
Nordsee Ost operations manager Karina Wurtz said: “The annual maintenance of a turbine can be imagined as similar to an inspection of a car. Of course only on a larger scale and on the high seas.
“This includes, for example, that bolts are tightened, consumable fluids are refilled and the rotor blades are inspected from the inside. Our technicians only needed an average of 48 hours to maintain a turbine. That is a very good value.”