Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm is approximately 25 km off the coast of Suffolk. It has a capacity of 500 megawatts (MW) making it the world's largest offshore wind farm once it becomes operational and Siemens Energy is supplying the 140 3.6 MW wind turbines which connect the wind farm to the National Grid. Greater Gabbard will play a vital part in supplying green electricity to meet the EU target to obtain 20 per cent of energy from renewable sources by 2020.
To assist in the safe operation of the wind farm, Siemens Building Technologies has delivered life-critical telecoms, CCTV including a virtual video network and integrated alarm monitoring across a fully integrated IP based monitoring network, which includes Voice Over IP operating 25 km out at sea. To enable viewing of the video data from the UK and Europe, Siemens has also integrated the video alarms and monitoring into a Siemens SCADA platform, and the client's IP network.
The primary purpose of the surveillance of the offshore wind farm is to evaluate conditions on the remote site, safeguard personnel and monitor the operation offshore. The video information is also used for logistic purposes, planning and for potential incident evaluation.
Both the network and the equipment chosen had to be robust and resilient to meet the challenge of this hostile marine environment. This project required a delivery methodology to accommodate the demands of both land and sea and to meet the key critical health and safety challenges set by the two different environments for delivery and maintenance.
In particular, one of the most important design considerations for the Security Solutions team at Siemens was the remote locations of the turbines. The 140 turbines are mounted on steel monopolies and transition pieces, in water depths between 24 and 34 metres. The most important aspect of the solution was that the system had high-availability with reliable proven components. As additional back up, Siemens has built in remote diagnostics within the IP Platform to facilitate remote repair.
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| Siemens has built-in remote diagnostics within the IP Platform to facilitate remote repair |
Siemens has designed the system to meet the clients' needs using experience gained from working on projects for the National Grid and Off-shore. Siemens understand just how crucial the design and testing (FAT and SAT) elements are prior to shipping for an offshore project of this scale. Siemens is overseeing both the installation and commissioning works. The system has been designed to eliminate catastrophic failures enabling a "return to land" service approach.
Greater Gabbard is being jointly developed by SSE and RWE npower renewables. Dave Pickles, managing director of Siemens Building Technologies UK explains: "Renewable energy is a growing industry and an exciting new sector for Siemens. On completion, Greater Gabbard will be the largest offshore wind farm in the world and will have provided Siemens the opportunity to share its technology and services in one of the UK's most exciting renewable energy projects. Siemens is a market leader in the design, installation and maintenance of innovative and customised security solutions. Our proven track record and experience in delivering multi-discipline technological solutions for critical national infrastructure, urban surveillance, transport infrastructure and police projects means we are well placed to deliver this type of specialist project."