According to information obtained from a European tender table, Vattenfall is preparing an invitation to tender for the decommissioning of the Alpha Ventus. In the meantime, the participants in the RAVE project have launched the Alpha Ventus Research finalRAVE, a sub-project focusing on the final phase and decommissioning of the offshore wind farm.
According to information obtained from Vattenfall, one of the project’s co-owners, the decommissioning project will start in 2027, but the project owners have also considered a start date of 2028.
The contract awarded under this upcoming call for tenders will cover all processes required for the decommissioning of the twelve wind turbines at the Alpha Ventus offshore wind farm site. This process includes the dismantling of the rotor-nacelle assemblies and towers and offshore transportation, providing all required vessels, equipment, tools and personnel.
In addition to the above, the decommissioning contract will include loading and handling onshore, providing all required port/harbour facilities and support services, as well as onshore processing of wind turbine components and waste management, providing all temporary storage, transportation and facilities until final disposal.
For final disposal, the owners of the Alpha Ventus project are seeking to reuse, recycle and recover energy from the materials. The contractor will also provide the necessary marking for the foundations that remain after the turbines have been removed.
The RAVE research initiative, now in its final phase, was established to carry out research and development work at Alpha Ventus, which is both Germany’s first offshore wind farm and an offshore test field. RAVE is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE), which has so far provided more than 120 million euros, and is coordinated and implemented by the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems (IWES).
Since the construction of the offshore wind farm in 2008, more than 60 partners from science and industry have worked on more than 35 projects, ranging from environmental projects and the further development of the offshore wind farm and foundations to the optimization of operations.
News of the demolition of the 60 MW Alfa Ventus power plant, which went into operation in 2010, broke earlier this year, after a German media outlet reported that the consortium behind the project, consisting of EWE (47.5 percent), RWE (26.25 percent) and Vattenfall (26.25 percent), was considering the next steps for the wind farm, with demolition being one of the options.
The news made headlines, given that the project is 15 years old and its subsidy period has expired, prompting EWE and RWE to point out that Alpha Ventus is primarily a testbed for offshore wind and that the project has therefore achieved its goal.
The two project owners also stressed in statements to offshoreWIND.biz in March this year that decommissioning the wind farm is also part of its research objective that needs to be carried out and will help an industry that has not seen much decommissioning work so far.
The Alpha Ventus project is located 45 kilometers north of the island of Borkum in the North Sea and consists of six Adwen AD 5-116 wind turbines and six Senvion 5M wind turbines.