Nordex N90 Offshore exceeding expectations

Erected in summer 2003 off the Danish port of Frederikshavn in Kattegatt, the first offshore turbine to be built by a German manufacturer has generated roughly 8,000MWh electricity in its second year of operation. When taking the energy content of the wind for the production of the second year into consideration it corresponds to a production of 8,500MWh in a normal wind year, i.e. approximately 9 % larger production than estimated. Since connecting the 2.3MW turbine to the grid in June 2003, Nordex has been testing and continuously optimising all the components used in the turbine as well as its overall response under realistic maritime weather conditions. Thus, in the past few months, the pilot turbine’s pitch and gearbox, among other things, have been modified to steadily increase availability. The availability of the turbine has been continuously above 95 % in the second year.