A giant offshore wind farm has come online in the North Sea some 53 miles off the northern coast of the Netherlands.
The Gemini wind park, which comprises 150 wind turbines, has a potential generating capacity of 600Mw and should supply sufficient energy for 1.5 million people.
Off shore wind farms benefit from higher and more consistent wind speeds than land-based wind farms typically do, but maintenance can be much more challenging in remote marine environments. To avoid being seen from the shore, thereby satisfying locals and preserving property prices, wind farms need to be built at least 26 miles away from the coastline. At 53 miles from the coastline, the Gemini wind farm will no doubt require the use of high-performance greases like Mobilith SHC 220 to minimise service intervals.
The giant wind farm will produce around 25% of wind power in the Netherlands, which is committed to increasing its renewable energy supply to 14% of total energy production by 2020. The country also aims to become carbon neutral by 2050. The new Gemini wind farm is a stepping stone in this process.
Talking about the wind farm, Matthias Haag, the managing director of the wind farm’s operator, said that, despite the inevitable complexity of building such as large project relatively far offshore, Gemini has succeeding in achieving large-scale projects on time and with safety in mind.
The new wind farm is expected to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1.25 million tonnes.
