Tonstad wind farm to commence operation early 2019 to fuel aluminium production in Norway

The 208MW Tonstad wind farm project on the eastern side of Lake Sirdal, in Sirdal and Flekkefjord municipalities, in Southern Norway, is reportedly under construction.

While the installation of the turbines has already started, fourteen are erected so far and six among them are electrified, which are now producing and delivering electricity to the grid as well.

The 208MW Tonstad wind farm is comprised of 51 SWT-DD-142 onshore wind turbines from Siemens Gamesa, mounted on 129m-high tubular steel towers. Designed to operate between 50Hz and 60Hz frequencies in low-wind onshore locations, each turbine of the Tonstad wind farm will have a rated capacity to produce up to 4.1MW.

The report states Hydro Energy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Norsk Hydro, will offtake the entire electricity output from the Tonstad wind farm under a 25-year green power purchase agreement (PPA) signed with Tonstad Vindpark in July 2018. This is expected to help Norsk Hydro to produce approximately 50,000 tonnes of aluminium in a year at its Norwegian plants using clean renewable energy.

The installation and electrification of the remaining turbines will continue over the next months and expectedly to be completed by mid-March 2020. But as the area is known for high wind speeds, especially in the autumn and winter months, there could be some days when installation works on the turbines would not be possible. That’s because the crane that is used to lift the top tower sections and the blades can only be operated when wind speeds are below a certain limit. The rotor is at a height of 129m above the ground and the lifting and inserting of the blade mounts requires a level of precision that cannot be attained in high wind speeds.