Østerild Wind Turbine Test Field (alternatively Risø) is a facility managed by the DTU Risø Campus of the

Technical University of Denmark The Technical University of Denmark (), often simply referred to as DTU, is a polytechnic university and school of engineering. It was founded in 1829 at the initiative of Hans Christian Ørsted as Denmark's first polytechnic, and it is today ran ...

(DTU) for testing of offshore

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that wind power, converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of list of most powerful wind turbines, large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over ...

s with a pinnacle height up to near

Thisted Thisted is a town in the municipality of Thisted in the North Denmark Region of Denmark. It has a population of 13,505 (1 January 2025)Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

History

The area was plagued by flying sand from about 1450, and a

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

was started from 1889 to keep the sand in check. The international

IEC 61400 IEC 61400 is an international standard published by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) regarding wind turbines. Purpose and function IEC 61400 is a set of design requirements made to ensure that wind turbines are appropriately ...

standard specifies how to design and validate wind turbines to gain commercial value.International Standard IEC 61400-1, Third Edition
''

International Electrotechnical Commission The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC; ) is an international standards organization that prepares and publishes international standards for all electrical, electronics, electronic and related technologies. IEC standards cover a va ...

'', August 2005. Accessed: 12 March 2011. A suitable area for testing wind turbines must have good wind, a specific

surface roughness Surface roughness or simply roughness is the quality of a surface of not being smooth and it is hence linked to human ( haptic) perception of the surface texture. From a mathematical perspective it is related to the spatial variability structure ...

, a clear area around the site, and not be in an EU

Special Protection Area A special protection area (SPA) is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and cer ...

. After investigating 17 areas and drawing criticism, the

Folketing The Folketing ( , ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark — Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands and Greenland. E ...

decided in June 2010 to establish a wind turbine test center at Østerild. It was inaugurated in 2012, and is popular among tourists. A

visitor center A visitor center or centre (see American and British English spelling differences), visitor information center or tourist information centre is a physical location that provides information to tourists. Types A visitor center may be a Civic c ...

opened in 2017, and had 50,000 visitors in 2020. There is a 50kW

charging station A charging station, also known as a charge point, chargepoint, or electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), is a power supply electrical device, device that supplies electrical power for recharging plug-in electric vehicles (including batter ...

. The current turbines reached a height of 240 metres in 2020; the Danish wind industry would like a new site capable of turbines up to 400 metres to be developed; at the end of 2024

Siemens Gamesa Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, S.A. was formed in 2017 in a merger of Siemens AG, Siemens' Wind Power division with Gamesa Corporación Tecnológica, S.A.; it is a Spanish-German wind engineering company based in Zamudio, Biscay, Spain. The co ...

had a 170-metre tower built intended for a 21MW prototype under the HIPPOW project of the EC Innovation Fund New ponds and open areas have improved conditions for bats. The first

sea eagle A sea eagle or fish eagle (also called erne or ern, mostly in reference to the white-tailed eagle) is any of the birds of prey in the subfamily Haliaeetinae of the bird of prey family Accipitridae. Ten extant species exist, currently described w ...

s came to the area in 2015.

Description

There are 9 test stands, and each test stand has its own meteorological mast due west. Some stands were not yet put in use in 2015. In 2016, the wind turbine industry requested more stands to fulfill future test requirements. The turbines are not permanent, but spend some months in test at the site before being replaced by the next turbines. At the northern and the southern end of the test field, there are two 250 metre tall guyed masts equipped with lamps to warn aircraft. The masts are situated at and at .

List of sites

Test sites as of December 2015 :

Gallery

File:GE–Alstom 150-6MW at Østerild, 2017.jpg, GE Wind (offshore), 6MW File:Vestas V126-3.45 MW guyed tower at Østerild, 2017.jpg, Vestas V126-3.45 MW

guyed tower A guyed mast is a tall thin vertical structure that depends on guy lines (diagonal tensioned cables attached to the ground or a base) for stability. The mast itself has the compressive strength to support its own weight, but does not have the s ...

File:Siemens 7MW at Østerild, 2017.jpg, Siemens 7MW

References

External links

Østerild - National Test Centre for Large Wind Turbines
DTU page
National Testing Centre for Large Wind Turbines in Østerild
tourist page
Environmental papers

Brochure

Current weather measurements
{{DEFAULTSORT:Osterild Wind Turbine Test Field Wind farms in Denmark Wind turbines