Blade swap complete at Gunfleet 3

Fred Olsen vessel Bold Tern has successfully swapped out a full set of blades on a Siemens 6MW turbine at Dong Energy’s Gunfleet 3 demonstrator.

Work was completed earlier this month and prompted by damage to two blade tips during “intense prototype testing”, as first reported in subscriber-only newsletter reNews in July.

Commissioning of the two direct-drive turbines in the Thames Estuary is now progressing, albeit on a delayed schedule that was originally due to be wrapped up in the spring.

Siemens is putting the 6MW machines through their initial offshore tests at Gunfleet 3. Onshore trials have already taken place at Osterild in Denmark and will continue in Scotland following installation at the Hunterston test site in the autumn.

Dong said earlier this summer that despite the mishap it has “complete confidence” in the turbine technology, which was installed in January.

Image: installation of the 6MW machines at Gunfleet 3 (Siemens)