Emergency power for Europe’s offshore wind farms

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Emergency power for Europe’s offshore wind farms

Offshore wind farms are set to become one of the cornerstones of Europe's energy supply.

By 2050, wind turbines in our waters could increase tenfold in capacity, producing huge amounts of renewable energy for our cities and towns. Energy we wouldn’t be able to effectively utilise without the converter platforms and emergency generators that support the grid.

Harnessing energy from offshore wind farms

Converter platforms are at the heart of every wind farm. These high-tech megastructures take the electricity produced at sea and convert it from alternating current to direct current so that it can be transported ashore by cable.

Each converter consists of various components such as transistors, diodes, capacitors and coils to reduce any loss of energy during conversion. Once on land, the electricity is converted back from direct current to alternating current, ready for distribution.

According to the Offshore Wind Energy Foundation, 140 offshore converter platforms will be needed in Europe in the coming years in order to achieve the expansion targets. At 2.5 billion euros each, they’re an expensive investment.

Rolls-Royce emergency power generators play a crucial role

Ensuring the stability of many of these platforms are Rolls-Royce mtu emergency gensets. They generate electricity on the platform if the main power supply fails, making sure control and monitoring systems continue to run and that the lighting and other safety-critical systems do not fail.

They also supply power to keep important system components cooled and ventilated to prevent damage from overheating. In extreme cases, the emergency power generators enable the systems to be shut down and restarted in a controlled manner to prevent damage.

The gensets are based on mtu Type 4000 P63 engines and are available with 12, 16 and 20 cylinders with a maximum output of 2,500 kWe. "We supply our customers with complete, IMO-3-certified emergency gensets as well as just the engines, which are integrated into a genset by Packager," explains Detlev Köster from Marine Sales at Rolls-Royce's Power Systems division. One thing is crucial for him: like all mtu engines, they must be extremely reliable, because they are the piece of the puzzle that matters in the event of an emergency.

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