The Øyfjellet wind farm is a 400MW wind power generation facility being developed in Mosjöen, Norway. Upon completion, it is expected to be the biggest wind farm in Norway.
The project is owned by Aquila Capital, an investment management company based in Germany. It acquired the project from Eolus, a Swedish wind power developer, in December 2019. Eolus is responsible for the construction management of the project on behalf of Aquila Capital. It will provide technical, operational and administrative services for the project for 15 years.
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Construction of the wind farm began in March 2021. The first turbine was installed in May 2021, and the final turbine was installed in December 2021.
The wind farm is expected to be commissioned in the first quarter (Q1) of 2022. It is estimated that it will generate 1,200GWh of clean energy a year, which will be enough to power 75,000 homes.
Øyfjellet wind farm project location and background
The Øyfjellet wind farm is located near the town of Mosjöen, in the municipality of Vefsn, Nordland County, Norway. The project site is spread across 40km² at altitudes ranging between 600m and 800m above sea level. The location is known for its strong wind conditions and cold climate.
The wind farm was originally planned to be developed with a capacity of 330MW. Eolus submitted a permit application for the project to the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) in January 2014 and was granted approval in November 2014.
The Norges Olje- og energidepartementet (Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy) approved the concession for the project in November 2016, which was followed by another approval to increase the wind farm’s capacity from 330MW to 400MW in October 2018.
Øyfjellet wind farm turbine details
The Øyfjellet wind farm is powered by 72 Nordex N149/5.X TS105 turbines. Each turbine has a power-generating capacity of more than 5MW. The turbines are installed on 105m-tall steel towers.
The N149/5.X turbine is part of Nordex’s Delta4000 series, which includes advanced turbine platforms with higher annual energy production (AEP) and efficiency.
The turbine has a rotor diameter of 149.1m and swept area of 17,460m² (187,937.9ft²). The cut-in wind speed of the turbine is 3m/s, while the cut-out wind speed is 26m/s. The N149/5.X turbine comes with an anti-icing system.
Grid connection for Norway’s biggest wind farm
Norwegian power company Helgeland Kraft was responsible for connecting the wind farm to the main grid with an 11.6km-long transmission line. The power generated from the wind farm is fed to the national grid through a 132kV main breaker at the Marka substation.
Off-take agreement
Eolus signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with aluminium company Alcoa Norway, a subsidiary of Alcoa, in March 2018. The entire power generated by the wind farm will be supplied to Alcoa Norway for a period of 15 years from the date of the project’s commissioning.
Contractors involved
Nordex was contracted to supply the wind turbines for the project in March 2020. The company also agreed to provide services for the turbines for 20 years, with an option for extension.
Norwegian construction firm Veidekke was selected as the main contractor for the construction works, which included the construction of turbine foundations, roads, crane pads, station building and service buildings.
Linka received a contract for the design and installation of the 132kV transmission line between the wind farm and Marka substation.
Finnish slim floor structures and wind turbine foundation solutions provider Peikko was engaged to provide design and structural calculations for the turbine foundations. It also supplied steel components, including rock anchors, drilling templates and assembly system, tower adapter plates with tower connection bolts, and advanced reinforcement steel technology.
Engineering and consulting firm AFRY, which is based in Sweden, was consulted to analyse the wind resources at the project site. It provided site selection services to install the turbines with minimal impact on the surrounding environment.
The wind turbine components were transported from the port of Mosjöen to the Øyfjellet wind farm’s location by MarTrain Heavy Haulage, a company based in Northern Ireland.
