The Technology Context – B101

Sustainable Technology Project – Horns Rev Wind Farm Report

Project Background
On the 11 of December 2002 at 2:00 pm, the last of the 80 wind turbines at Horns Rev was put into operation by specialists from Vestas. This marked the conclusion of almost 4 months of hectic activity, completing the installation work and testing the turbines. Horns Rev the world’s biggest wind farm is located off the west coast of Denmark’s Jutland peninsula, close to Blåvands Huk in the North Sea. With 80 wind turbines and a total capacity of 160 MW, Horns Rev was installed by Elsam in 2002.


Objectives

One of the main political objectives in the renewable energy area in the 1990s was to promote the use of renewable energy. Denmark has a long tradition of exploiting wind power. Renewable energy options currently represent about 12 percent of Denmark's total energy system. But industry insiders say that figure must reach 30 percent by 2025 to uphold current export levels. The Horns Rev project will determine whether or not the Danish Government’s energy plan is viable considering what the average amount of power turbines produce. According to the plan laid out, wind turbines with
a total capacity of 4000 MW must be established in Danish waters before 2030.

Current Status
With the Horns Rev wind farm’s completion at the end of 2002 there remains some outstanding work and repairs to be finished, firstly concerning the longevity of the turbines. This work was expected to be finished in spring 2003. However, one or two of the blades on the park’s turbines were found to be damaged by lightning during a thunder storm in the area, in the autumn. This was later repaired and to this day Horns Rev has been operational. In 2009 Dong Energy plans to have completed the Horns Rev II project, a new offshore wind farm 14 kilometres out into the North Sea. With 98 giant turbines capable of producing 2% of Denmark's entire electricity demand, the Horns Rev II wind farm will not just be big, but the world's biggest wind farm.

Sustainable Technology Objective
Wind energy along with many other renewable energy sources help to harness the many types of free energy that is available. What makes these approaches even better is the fact that these methods of harnessing energy don’t have side effects that hurt the environment. Wind power has been proven to reduce CO’2 emission greatly since they were introduced.

Technical alternatives and consequences
There are very little alternative to harnessing wind energy, but recently there have been a few innovative ideas like the wind belt wind generator and the wind-hydrogen hybrid power system.

The Wind Belt
The technology creator Shawn Frayne, which he calls a Wind belt, is a taut membrane fitted with a pair of magnets that oscillate between metal coils. Prototypes have generated 40 milliwatts in 10-mph slivers of wind, making his device 10 to 30 times as efficient as the best micro turbines. Frayne envisions the Wind belt costing a few dollars and replacing kerosene lamps in Haitian homes. “Kerosene is smoky and it’s a fire hazard,” says Peter Haas, founder of the Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group, which helps people in developing countries to get environmentally sound access to clean water, sanitation and energy. “If Shawn’s innovation breaks, locals can fix it. If a solar panel breaks, the family is out a panel.”


Wind-Hydrogen Hybrid Power
One of the main issues with wind energy is its intermittent power delivery. This has led to many methods of storing energy including the production of hydrogen through the electrolysis of water. This hydrogen is subsequently used to generate electricity during periods when demand cannot be matched by wind alone. The energy in the stored hydrogen can be converted into electrical power through fuel cell technology or a combustion engine linked to an electrical generator. 


Sustainable Technology Project – Horns Rev Wind Farm Report
The problem that most people find with wind power is that when generating said wind power the turbines can often produce unwanted noise as well as obstruction to scenery. These are the main reasons why home owners dislike wind turbines and why they have come up against some resistance. As for the Wind belt and the Wind-Hydrogen Hybrid, these technologies are still in the testing stages and have not been release on a public scale.

Potential political and financial effects
As the world’s largest wind farm, Horns Rev has attracted the attention of government, the media, the construction industry, tourists and many others both in Denmark and abroad. Denmark regards the UN decision to hold its 2009 Climate Summit in Copenhagen as recognition of the country’s attitude to environmental issues. The purpose of the Summit is to renew the epoch-making Kyoto Agreement of 1997. Denmark is already a world leader with regard to the exploitation of wind power and export of wind turbines and environmental protection equipment. Every second wind turbine in the world is manufactured in Denmark. The aim is that a third of Denmark’s energy consumption will come from renewable sources by 2025. Already now (2005) the percentage is 15.5% – a figure attracting international attention.
Horns Rev can generate enough electricity for 150,000 private homes, or nearly two per cent of Denmark’s total electricity consumption. The Horns Rev wind farm cost DKK 2 billion to erect. Denmark has a long tradition of exploiting wind power. Research and development of new kinds of wind turbines from the late 1970s, combined with favourable government grants towards wind power production, have created a Danish success story. In 2001, about 18% of Danish electricity consumption was supplied by wind power as opposed to 2% in 1990. Concurrently, Danish wind turbines have become a major export commodity with currency earnings of approximately DKK 12 billion in 2001.

Global and National potential effects
The national effects are that the government is taking notice of how much of a change that wind energy make to the economy and the environment. This in turn affects other financial areas of the country like tourism. On the global scale various countries are taking note of the achievements that have been made at Horns Rev and are making their own steps to implement wind farms in their respective countries. The United States of America in recent years has added more wind energy to their power grid than any single country in the world, and the capacity is expected to grow by 3 giga watts by 2008. Texas has become the leader in wind energy production, surpassing California. In 2007, the state expects to add 2 giga watts to its existing capacity of approximately 4.5 giga watts. Iowa and Minnesota are expected to each produce 1 giga watt by late-2007. This shows how much the world recognises the potential of wind power.
 
Sustainable Technology Project – Horns Rev Wind Farm Report

Conclusion
With the planet’s main source of energy running out, and no real viable solution to a new main energy supply it’s only a matter of time before we get to see drastic weather patterns due to the green house effect. That being said, that eventually is still a ways off and can be diverted if the countries of the world act now. All of the renewable sources of energy being looked into at the moment all have the potential to change the way we live and I believe of all those sources of free energy wind power is taking the biggest leaps and bounds to achieve those goals with more and more countries getting involved.

References

Vattenfall
http://www.vattenfall.com/www/vf_com/vf_com/365787ourxc/366203opera/555848newpo/557004biofu77761/557004biofu/index.jsp Retrieved on 10-01-2008. Pg 1. Para 1

Denmark official website
http://www.denmark.dk/en/menu/AboutDenmark/Environment-Energy-Climate/Energy/ Retrieved on 10-01-2008. Pg 3. Para 1

Dong Energy
http://www.hornsrev.dk/Engelsk/default_ie.htm Retrieved on 10-01-2008. Pg 1. Para 2

Horns Rev Newsletter
http://www.hornsrev.dk/Engelsk/nyheder/nyh_dec_02/uk-dec_02.htm#Maintenance%20of%20the%20wind%20turbine%20park Retrieved on 10-01-2008. Pg 1. Para 1

Windbelt
http://www.humdingerwind.com/ Retrieved on 10-01-2008. Pg 2. Para 3

Wind-Hydrogen Hybrid Power
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind-Hydrogen_Hybrid_Power_Systems Retrieved on 10-01-2008. Pg 2. Para 4

Wind Power
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power Retrieved on 10-01-2008. Pg 3. Para 4