5 years have passed since DONG Energy & Centrica let the ink dry for the 90MW offshore wind power plant located 7km of the coast. Today, the consortium, named BOWind, has decided to renew Barrow’s service contract for five more years.
On the basis of the new contract we took the time to speak to the Operations Manager at BOWind Lars Bo Schmidt. He represents both DONG Energy & Centrica in the consortium.
What made you choose Vestas Offshore for the new service contract?
“Our decision to choose Vestas Offshore is based on that fact that we have had a good cooperation with Vestas at the BOWind site in the past. Further, Vestas has delivered good service throughout the first term service period.”
What type of quality do you experience in the service?
“I experience a site, which is good at prioritizing tasks and I think is also related to your organization set-up. The Site Managers and the Site Supervisions have had focus on availability and we have come far within the last three years. In the first years we experienced many challenges on the gearboxes and since then it has been a positive experience, because the site became good at focusing at harvesting the wind which creates a good availability. And keep in mind that availability is our core business and we focus highly on this aspect as well as on the low lost production factor, because this determines our own sell-price.”
How does Vestas Offshore then strengthen your business case?
“Well, in several ways really. One aspect is keeping a high availability and by showing transparency of the availability results, which can still be improved I think. A second aspect is by looking at the fact that we see an effective operations and maintenance service, which is strong on the safety culture aspect. The ability to maintain a high focus on safety is very important, because this has a positive impact on DONG Energy & Centrica – and from the very beginning Vestas Offshore showed that this would influence our business case.”
Facts
Barrow Offshore Wind Ltd. is the consortium behind the Wind Farm with the shares distributed equally between Centrica and DONG Energy. The consortium also carries the name BOWind.
