Gemini Wind Farm

Gemini
Map
Country
  • Netherlands
Location85 km north of Groningen
Coordinates54°02′10″N 5°57′47″E / 54.036°N 5.963°E / 54.036; 5.963
StatusOperational
Commission date
  • 8 May 2017
Wind farm
Type
Distance from shore55 km (34 mi)
Rotor diameter
  • 130 m (430 ft)
Power generation
Units operational150 × 4 MW
Make and modelSiemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SWT-4.0-130 (150)
Nameplate capacity
  • 600 MW
External links
Websitegeminiwindfarm.com
[edit on Wikidata]

Gemini is a 600 megawatt (MW) offshore wind farm off the coast of the Netherlands. Construction started in 2015 with final commissioning in 2017.[1][2] At the time of completion it was the second largest offshore wind farm on Earth after the London Array.

Map
Wind farm layout

The wind farm consists of two parts. The first part with 75 turbines is located north of Ameland. The second part also with 75 turbines is located 55 kilometres north of Schiermonnikoog. The 150 wind turbines are Siemens SWT-4.0, each with a capacity of 4 megawatts.[3][4]

The wind farm has been developed by a consortium led by Northland Power, while Van Oord is the main contractor. Initially it was expected that the wind farm would be ready in the fourth quarter of 2015,[5] but the start of construction was delayed until 2015.[6] Electricity production started in February 2016 when the first turbine was connected to the grid.[7] In the first week of December 2016, all 150 turbines began producing power, and the project was fully commissioned in May 2017.[2][8]

The total construction cost of the Gemini project is estimated at around 2.8 billion euros,[9] and subsidies will be 3.6 billion euros.[4]

Gemini has licences to operate the wind farm for 20 years. After this period, the wind farm and everything that has been introduced onto the seabed must be removed. A bank security of 40 million euros has been made available for this.

The first offshore service vessel with inverted bow and X-Stern was launched by Ulstein Group in April 2016 to service Gemini, housing 40 workers.[10][11][12][13]

  1. ^ "The 600-MW Gemini offshore wind farm is successfully up & running". Archived from the original on 2017-05-01. Retrieved 2017-05-01.
  2. ^ a b "Full tilt: giant offshore wind farm opens in North Sea". Guardian. 9 May 2017. Archived from the original on 9 May 2017. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  3. ^ Innovation - Gemini Wind Farm Archived 2015-02-11 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 8 February 2015
  4. ^ a b Gemini Archived 2016-05-04 at the Wayback Machine 4C
  5. ^ Datasheet Gemini 600 MW, Datasheet Gemini Archived 2012-06-14 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 8 February 2015
  6. ^ Van Oord bouwt mee aan windpark Schiermonnikoog Archived 2015-02-09 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 8 February 2015
  7. ^ PZC [1] Archived 2017-01-18 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 16 January 2017
  8. ^ 4C Offshore, Key project dates for Gemini [2] Archived 2017-02-02 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 22 January 2017
  9. ^ NRC Handelsblad Nieuw windmolenpark in Noordzee ter waarde van 2,8 miljard euro, 30 januari 2014 Archived 2015-02-08 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 8 February 2015
  10. ^ "First offshore wind service vessel from Ulstein Verft launched". Offshore Wind Industry. 28 April 2016. Archived from the original on 29 June 2016. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  11. ^ Tore Stensvold (5 January 2016). "Første skip med X-Stern er kommet til Ulsteinvik". Teknisk Ukeblad. Archived from the original on 4 May 2016. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  12. ^ "WINDEA TBN1". Ulstein Group. Archived from the original on 16 April 2016. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  13. ^ Ship video on YouTube