Portugal’s first floating wind farm starts producing
PRESS RELEASE – The first platform of the WindFloat Atlantic floating wind farm has started producing energy for Portugal’s power grid, after being successfully connected on 31st December. The platform is equipped with an 8.4 MW wind turbine, the largest ever installed on a floating platform.
The first of the three platforms was successfully connected after the energisation of the 20-kilometre long cable connecting the offshore wind farm and the substation of Viana do Castelo. The other two units will be connected successively until the floating wind farm reaches its full potential of 25 MW.
The commissioning of this wind farm facilitates access to untapped marine areas and represents a significant technological leap towards shaping a carbon-free economy in Portugal. The WindFloat Atlantic platforms are anchored with chains to the seabed at a depth of 100 metres. They are designed to be transported by standard towing craft, as opposed to bottom-fixed projects which require expensive vessels to be mobilized for transport, and their on-shore assembly helps scale back logistics, financial and environmental costs associated with marine construction. All of these technological advantages make it viable for the project to be replicated anywhere in the world, at a much larger scale.
The project took another step forward, once the second of the three platforms that make up the WindFloat Atlantic had arrived at its final destination in the past days. Once fully operational the three Wind Turbine generators making up the wind farm will be able to generate enough energy to supply the equivalent of 60,000 users each year.
More news
Fuel prices take a massive nosedive
Fuel prices have taken a massive nosedive since the beginning of the year with low sulphur fuel prices in Singapore dropping from USD 734 per tonne on January 1st to USD 415 per tonne today. The price drop comes at a good time as the transport and logistics industry is struggling with low demand as… Read more ›
Zeamarine closes offices in Denmark
Zeamarine is closing its operations in Denmark. The Danish subsidiary has filed for bankruptcy resulting in the closure of two offices and 23 employees being sent home, confirms local liquidator Hafnia Law. The German breakbulk carrier has two offices in Denmark, one in Naevsted and one in Aarhus, but both offices have now been closed… Read more ›
Manager loses contact with general cargo vessel after pirate attack
Chinese vessel manager Tianjin Xinhai International Ship Management has lost contact with its general cargo vessel Huanghai Glory after the vessel sent a piracy alert using its Ship Security Alert System (SSAS). An unknown number of pirates are believed to have boarded the vessel, which is currently drifting off the coast of Nigeria. The vessel’s… Read more ›