01x01 - Wind

[bunniefuu]

[instrumental music]

Osterild is a prime location

due to the vicinity of the sea.

You have very good winds
in this part of Denmark.

When you have a blade

that is 75 meters long,
the tube of the blade,

is running at 200 kilometers per hour.

Blade design today is much more comparable

to let's say a Formula One
team or aerospace design.

Every time we do something new,

we really push the
boundaries for what's possible.

[instrumental music]

A global industrial revolution is underway.

Yes, we have a technological
challenge for our environment

for the wellbeing of the population

of the planet, for civilization.

Driven by passionate dedicated individuals,

intent on shaping a new world.

I do it because I look at my kids and

I honestly I'm convinced
that this is the way.

A cleaner world.

There is a way forward

other than burning fossil
fuels out on our forests.

A greener world.

This wind farm is producing

more hours of power into the grid,

than all wind farms in the
UK and probably in the world.

What we've past is not going
to solve these challenges.

We need to find new ways.

And I think the only way to do that

is to bravely step forward
and implement technology.

Together, they are pushing engineering

to its limits to create
extraordinary machines

that can protect our planet

for the future.

[instrumental music]

The world is entering a post carbon age,

and one of the most visible signs of that

is the wind turbine.

Like it's or not, these gentle giants

are slowly becoming a part
of the modern landscape.

Today, there are over 300,000
turbines around the globe

generating 600 gigawatts of electricity,

enough to continuously
power nearly 400 million homes.

And now, hungry for more clean energy,

countries are looking to their coastlines.

But building wind farms at
sea is much harder than on land.

The forces on the sea
are so big that the turbine

will actually destroy itself.

We've had bursts up to 200 miles per hour

of wind speed and waves up to eight meters.

Yet the rewards could be world changing,

unlimited amounts of clean energy

could replace fossil fuels for good.

These turbines, they will
produce enough clean energy

to power 630,000 homes.

Ocean wind has so much potential

for the electricity system in the future.

Can we actually make all of our oceans

available for wind power?

That was the challenge.

Engineers are racing

to design taller turbines,

bigger wind farms

and structures that capture
the wind over deeper oceans,

because if they can harness even a fraction

of the ocean's wind, they could supply

all the world with electricity.

[instrumental music]

The only way to harness wind power

that we know of is with turbines.

Wind is simply air moving
from one place to another.

And when things move, they have energy.

But turbines can't
capture it all because

as you take energy out of
the wind, the air slows down.

If a turbine took 100% of the energy,

the air would come to a
standstill just past the blades

and that stationary
layer of air would block

any more wind from
blowing through the rotor.

In fact, scientists have worked out

that the most energy
it's theoretically possible

to capture is 59.3%,

known as the Betz limit.

So engineers want to get as
close to that limit as they can.

And the best way they
currently know is to use airfoils.

Just like the wings of an airplane,

this teardrop shape creates lift

which is a force perpendicular

to the movement of air across it.

Some wind turbines can
now capture almost 50%

of the wind's power,
and they're still improving.

The blades are vulnerable to storms.

So when the wind blows too hard,

the pitch changes to let
it rush harmlessly past.

In good conditions, the rotor turns a shaft

inside the nacelle, the
hub at the top of the tower

that houses the generator.

Here, a ring of magnets is
turned around a metal coil,

which generates electricity.

[instrumental music]

These modern wind
turbines were well established

by the end of the 20th century,

but they were still small and expensive.

Yet, the problem with burning

fossil fuels was gaining attention.

People started looking at alternative means

of producing energy, not
just actually because of climate

but because fossil fuels were finite.

And so the energy sector 20 years ago

was really starting to get to grips

with this concept of an energy transition,

completely changing the
way we produce power.

Wind turbines spread rapidly,

but the size of available sites was limited

and many considered them
a blight on the landscape.

A few pioneers could
see a possible solution,

building wind farms at sea

Off shore, you were able to capture

far more wind and produce far more power.

And the scale that you
could achieve offshore

is much bigger than onshore

because you're not so
close to towns and cities

[instrumental music]

But the harsh conditions
at sea are daunting

and many wondered if offshore

wind farms were feasible at all.

There were big questions
about whether the technology

was going to be reliable
enough and survivable enough

in these really hostile,
offshore environments

where you naturally have to put

the turbines to catch the wind.

And also big questions
about how expensive it was.

Jonathan Cole, managing director

of Offshore Wind Energy Company, Iberdola

was determined to find a way.

Myself and a small team of people

got together to develop a strategy,

to get into offshore wind.

And what we could see was
that if you could get the skill

and the industrialization
into the offshore wind sector,

it had huge potential.

Jonathan's vision was for massive

wind farms at sea that could replace

entire fossil fuel power stations

and to eventually supply the
world with clean wind power.

But to do that, he must bring down

the high cost of offshore
wind enough to compete,

not only with other
renewable energy sources,

but with coal and gas.

[instrumental music]

In 2010, Jonathan started
planning a vast wind farm

to prove it could be done and the UK

was the perfect pace to build it.

There were a number of
large gas and coal plants

that were going to have to shut down.

And so the UK had to effectively rebuild

more than half of its
energy infrastructure.

And of course, the UK is
an island with huge quantities

of shallow water seabed off
the island, very windy seabed.

So it was a really unique place

in terms of really needing the power

but also having this amazing
resource right off the coast.

The proposed off shore wind farm

was named East Anglia One.

It would be far bigger than
any in existence at the time

building such a colossal array

hosed huge challenges to Jonathan's team.

They needed far more powerful turbines

than any on the market

and structures to hold them

above 45 meters of turbulent water.

They needed 102 of
these giant turbines spread

over an area of 300 square kilometers.

And they had to find a way
to transmit the electricity,



This vast wind farm would provide

more than enough power to replace

a typical coal fired power plant.

And Jonathan must achieve all of this

while also lowering the cost.

We put teams of people
in place to make sure

that East Anglia wasn't just gonna be

the biggest project in the world,

it was gonna be the
most cost-effective as well.

[instrumental music]

April, 2017, the chip yards in Spain,

and Northern Ireland and the UAE,

hundreds of metalworkers began

building the foundations called jackets.

These towers hold the
turbines above the water

and they're securely
fixed in place by long piles

driven deep into the seabed.

The structures must be extremely strong

to not only hold turbines
weighing over 400 tons,

but they must also withstand stormy seas

and absorb a huge load from the wind.

To drive down costs,

Jonathan hired Charlie
Jordan as project director.

Charlie knew that these bulky frames

were not only expensive to make

but also to move around.

A big element of the cost is transportation

and the storage of these structures.

What we sought to do is
to try and reduce the cost.

And one area of innovation allowed us

to do that was reviewing the jacket design.

Jackets normally have four legs.

Charlie's team realized that
if you remove one of them,

you could fit more jackets on the barge

which would lower the
cost of transporting them,

but it would also weaken the structure.

To just change from
four-legged to three-legged,

the structure would then be too slender

because you have this additional hoards

that's got to be transmitted

through three legs as opposed to four.

So what you've got to then do is look

at the design and the strengthening.

The solution lay in a neighboring shipyard

which was making the
piles that would ultimately

pin each leg to the sea floor.

Each pile is made up of 19 individual

steel cans laid end to end

and weighs 120 tons.

The engineers calculated
that making the piles

around 150 millimeters wider,

would transfer the
extra load to the seabed,

making the overall structure strong enough.

[instrumental music]

The enormous jackets could be built

with three legs after all.

[instrumental music]

As the workers assembled 845 tons of steel,

each immense tower steadily rose

to stand 65 meters tall.

In Spain alone, over a thousand people

worked on the foundations

for a total of a million hours.

To complete the structure,

one final component was needed

that would ultimately connect
the jackets to the turbines.

These rings of steel are called flanges.

They have to be extremely strong

and also precision engineered.

But to make a ring of steel strong enough

to hold the weight of a turbine,

the components have to be
forged at high temperatures,

and that made it much harder
to get the size exactly right.

Steel by nature when we're heating up

and then it's cooling down

has the likelihood of
expanding and contracting.

So it's very important that going

through the fabrication process,

we make sure that there's
precision engineering

to make sure that these rings

are designed with millimeters of tolerance.

To forge the huge rings,

the team had to heat the steel

to a temperature of over


Then they rolled and machine the steel.

[instrumental music]

The flanges must have a
diameter of exactly 6,002

millimeters, but metal
shrinks as it cools.

So the technician has had to get

their calculations
exactly right, first time.

[instrumental music]

The team did a fantastic job in making sure

that when they're joining the foundation

to the wind turbine,
that are they're no gaps

and have got a good, solid connection.

[instrumental music]

Within a year, the foundations

were ready to be shipped to the North sea.

As planned, the three legged
shape allowed more jackets

to stack together on the barges.

By doing it three-legged,

it gave us tremendous advantages,

mainly in terms of the
space that it took up,

so for storage, for transportation

for then taking them out and installation.

We were able to carry
more jackets on a single trip.

With some of the barges being sent


the Southern tip of Africa,

every journey saved added added up.

Charlie had his first big cost savings,

and the jackets were on their way.

[instrumental music]

The team could now install
the foundations in the North Sea.

First, they lined up the load bearing piles

and hammered them down into the sea floor.

[instrumental music]

Then they lowered the jackets on top

to be fixed onto the piles.

[instrumental music]

The foundations were now
ready for the wind turbines.

Meanwhile,

the team had to build a structure

called an offshore substation.

This massive machine would sit

in the middle of the wind farm

where it could collect all
the electricity generated

by the surrounding
turbines and send it to shore.

An offshore substation
could effectively be described

as the heart of the offshore wind farm.

Here, you've got all the individual veins

or it could be like arteries

where all the turbines are connected.

At East Anglia One,

the substation would
have to increase the voltage

to over 200,000 volts

then send the electricity along the seabed

and underground to an onshore substation

where it will connect to the grid.

[instrumental music]

The high voltage allows
more energy to be transmitted

and means less is lost
as heat along the way.

But to handle an offshore wind farm

bigger than any other,
the team needed to build

a substation like none before.

We wanted to be having a wind farm

with just as much clean
energy as it possibly could.

A key function of that was the

end design of the offshore substation.

So similarly, we're ability to maximize

the size of that offshore substation

as big as we could technically make it.

[instrumental music]

By summer 2017,
construction of the supersize

substation was well underway in Spain,

as well as the gigantic jacket

to hold it above the water.

At nearly 4,000 tons,

it's the largest of its kind ever built

which created challenges.

I think we we're looking
at possibly two vessels

available in the world to be able

to install such a structure.

So actually, before we'd even started

with the substation, we
had to book the vessel.

And what that meant was
we then had to book the vessel

three years in advance
for a two weeks slot.

[instrumental music]

If the schedule slipped

and they missed their slot,

it would lead to delays and more costs.

So everything had to go according to plan.

The first component to
be sent to the English coast

had to be the jacket foundation.

But as a structure left the port in Spain,

there was an obstacle in the way,

the bridge in Cadiz is
over three kilometers long

and 69 meters high.

But despite being one
of the tallest in Europe,

the foundations on the
barge reached even higher.

Immediately, when you came up on the port,

you've got a real barge there,

that's under normal tides,

the substation won't actually fit under.

There was only one solution.

To clear the bridge, the team had to hit

the brief window of low tide, exactly.

[instrumental music]

From a distance, you
watched this massive structure

ceiling under the road bridge

with a very limited clearance.

It was certainly a very
exciting point of the project.

[instrumental music]

Hot on its heels,

the world record breaking substation

is also loaded onto a barge,

ready to install at the
hearts of the wind farm.

The giant powerhouse left
Spain on a 2,000 kilometer journey

around Portugal and
through the English channel

to its new home in the North Sea.

And they were bang on
time for the giant crane vessel.

The installation could begin.

[instrumental music]

These are enormous
vessels at nearly 10,000 tons.

And these vessels themselves
are nearly 300 meters long.

The substation itself at nearly 4,000 tons

is an enormous structure to lift.

Despite the crane vessel size,

the weight of the suspended substation

would still be enough to tip it over.

So to balance it out,


was added to the ships hold,

three times the weight of the Eiffel Tower.

When you start to design the lift,

it's actually not just the
arrangement of the substation

but you actually have to orientate

and rearrange the
vessel itself for balance,

in order to support the lift.

[instrumental music]

The substation was finally in place.

Next, it had to be connected
to the grid in England.

So an 85 kilometer long cable
was laid along the sea floor.

Then coastal cliffs were bypassed

with a tunnel to carry the power line

followed by 37 kilometers of trenches

to connect with an onshore substation.

Here, the electricity from the wind farm

would join the national network.

Finally, everything was ready
for the turbines themselves.

When the team were planning
East Anglia One in 2010,

the biggest turbines
installed anywhere in the world

could produce five megawatts of power,

enough to fully charge 3,000

typical electric cars every day.

But to make cheaper electricity,

they needed even more powerful turbines.

And that meant much bigger rotors

than were available at the time.

At the time we chose the wind turbine

for the East Anglia One
project, it didn't even exist.

It only existed in paper.

And it was bigger than anything
anyone had ever seen before

in the renewable energy sector globally.

Once they placed the order,

it was up to a team in
Denmark to find a way to make it.

[instrumental music]

Osterild, Denmark,

on a wind swept plane near the North Sea,

stand some of the biggest
wind turbines in the world.

Despite being on land, these
giant structures are designed

to eventually be used at sea.

As offshore wind turbines
get bigger and bigger,

this is where they come to
be tested in the real world

including the turbine
destined for East Anglia One.

[instrumental music]

Even though we have very
detailed computer modeling

used throughout the whole design phase

from the early concepting to
the detailed design in the end,

it can only get us that far.

We still need to test in real life.

Jeppe Funk Kirkegaard
leads the blade design

division of the world's biggest offshore

turbine manufacturer Siemens Gamesa.

In 2015, they had to provide
that the turbine would generate

as much electricity as
they'd promised it would.

And the margins in the wind
industry are extremely thin.

The worst case scenario is if the turbine

performs one or 2% less
than what we promised

because that would completely
change the business chase

for our customers and for society

for the offshore wind pump.

It was Jeppe's job to design a rotor

that could generate
over 50% more electricity.

To make it more powerful,

he had to lengthen the
blades from 63 meters

to a phenomenal 75 meters,

but that could have a big knock on effect

on the blades weight and cost.

While the length only increases 25%,

if you don't put in new technologies,

the mass would increase
by something like 50%.

So a heavy blade needs a heavy hub,

a heavy nacelle, a stronger
tower, all the way down.

And that really drives cost.

So from an engineering perspective,

the real challenge is to keep this

exponential growth of mass in check

and keep it as small as possible.

[instrumental music]

Jeppe's team had to completely redesign

the blade to be longer
without being much heavier.

But reducing the weight of a longer blade

would make it more susceptible
to damage from strong winds.

They decided to try a radical new approach.

[instrumental music]

One of the inspirations that made us

change the design are from birds

especially the seagull,
where you have a seagull wing

which is flexible and allows it to bend

with the forces that are
put upon it from the wind,

otherwise, it would break.

The effect you want to have is that

that as the blade bends, it also twists

because that's how it
deloads from the wind.

The plan was to design a blade

that's incredibly flexible

so that when a strong gust of wind puts

a heavy load on it, instead
of snapping, it bends.

But there's still a danger, it
bends so far that it breaks.

A brilliant tweak to the
design makes the blade

twist slightly away from
the wind as it bends.

That twist reduces the load

and saves the blade from damage.

That reduction in loads enables us

to make the blade longer
basically for the same mass.

Next, they had to build the blades

and test if the design worked.

Each giant blade is handmade.

First, the team lays
several tons of glass fiber

in a huge load to give the blade strength.

The precise angle of the glass fiber sheets

should cause the finished blade to twist.

Next comes a layer of balsa wood

which is stiff, but also lightweight.

Then we have to inject
eight tons of epoxy resin.

So it's the matrix, the glue
that keeps the blade together.

The blades we have are actually the biggest

one piece cast structure in the world.

[instrumental music]

A series of punishing tests

prove that the radical new design,

bends and twists as it's supposed to.

But could it generate as much
power as they'd promised?

[instrumental music]

Eventually, the 75 meter blades

were lifted into place for the first time.

The biggest rotor anywhere in the world.

Here at the Osterild test site,

meteorological masts measure
the exact speed of the wind.

So by measuring the power generated

at different wind speeds,

the team could calculate the performance

and fine tune the turbine.

[instrumental music]

After three years, the results are ready.

And to Jeppe's delight,

the turbine has performed
beyond expectations by 1%.

While that might not sound like very much,

it is actually a very significant upside.

Imagine if you have a large wind farm

with a hundred turbines,

you actually get a turbine for free.

The biggest wind turbine in the world

has passed its test with flying colors.

Next, it's ready to be deployed

at one of the world's biggest wind farms.

[instrumental music]

Great Yarmouth, England.

[instrumental music]

By the summer of 2019,

the giant components have come together

on this dock side, ready to construct 102

wind turbines.

It's been quite a journey.

I've been working in this
project for the past five years

and it's quite emotional
seeing it happening,

seeing the reality of it being
here on board of the vessel,

witnessing the first load out.

We are just reaching
the summit of the project.

Everyone is eager to
see it happening in reality

The turbines will be among

the largest and most powerful ever built.

Each tower is as tall
as a football field is long.

Each blade would outstretch a full wingspan

of a Boeing 747.

And the hubs known nacelles could each fit

two double Decker London buses inside.

Here at this port in Great Yarmouth,

we're bringing together all the components

that will comprise the wind turbines.

We've got blades,

all 306 of them will be hand-built

are brought down here to be loaded

onto the ship to be installed.

And then we've got the nacelles,

which are the real
heart of the wind turbine.

They've been built in Germany.

And then we've got towers,
that have been manufactured

all around Europe, in Spain,
in Scotland and in Denmark.

All the components,
they've been shipped here,

and they're gonna be
loaded onto this vessel

to sail them out to the offshore wind farm

and to start building them one by one

until all 102 wind turbines
are built in the wind farm.

Once fully assembled on its base,

each turbine would
stand at twice the height

of the Statue of Liberty.

And at full power, each one will provide

over 6,000 homes with
continuous electricity.

[instrumental music]

When this project is complete,

all the 102 turbines are
installed and commissioned,

they will produce enough clean energy

to power 630,000 homes

To install and then
maintain these turbines,

will take a highly trained local workforce

able to master the harsh
conditions of the North Sea.

[instrumental music]

In typical winter
conditions, survival times

in the water can be as
low as a few minutes.

Of course, it's imperative that

we're able to keep everyone safe.

Everyone that comes
over here, has to adjust

to this environment are working
in challenging environments.

They're very harsh conditions
offshore in the wind farms.

Working off shore is a very onerous task,

they have a long commute
to work in the morning.

To keep the team safe,

they must plan for the worst.

And that means immersive training.

[instrumental music]

Lifeguard Stan Clouting is working

with local trainees in Lowestoft, England.

I am very passionate about the subject

of looking after people,
about touching their life

in some kind of positive way,

and everybody going home in one piece,

should it go wrong, God forbid.

The training pool simulates the wind

and wave conditions
that the trainee technicians

will face in the North Sea.

These new recruits will go on

to build and maintain the wind turbines

in the East Anglia zone
for decades to come.

I'm a trainee BOP technician

so it basically involves everything

you can really do on a wind turbine

from areas of maintenance and operations.

And the whole wind farm's
gonna last my entire life.

So I'll definitely be out there
for what I can see lifetime

Over a five week course,

the trainees must master new
skills and survival techniques

to keep them safe in hostile waters.

[instrumental music]

But the most important lesson

is to have the right mental attitude.

It's not just about informing them.

It's about conditioning them as well

to get their mojo turned on,

to raise the hackles on
the back of their neck,

to use controlled aggression

for when something should go wrong.

So it's the little things
we pay lots of attention to,

and we will drive them hard.

These trainees will soon be ready

to head out safely to the wind farm

that's rapidly taking shape off the coast.

[instrumental music]

As the turbine parts head out

towards their final destination,

everything is on schedule and on budget.

The specialist vessel
called a jack-up barge

is designed to plant four legs firmly

on the seabed 45 meters below,

making the barge completely
stable despite the waves.

Then, they can begin to build the turbines.

[in foreign language]

[instrumental music]

It's crucial that the team keeps on track.

When you're in the offshore

installation phase of the project,

that's probably when you're at

the highest point of sensitivity to delay

because that's when you've got
these huge expensive offshore

wind installation vessels
out working in the field.

And we've only got them
there for a finite period of time

before they have to go
on to the next project.

So it's really important that you

can keep within the program that you set.

Installation vessels
cost around $150,000

a day.

So any delays will lead to heavy costs.

But the team have
already installed 13 turbines

and are getting into a rhythm.

[in foreign language]

But as summer turns
to fall, and then winter,

the weather gets increasingly windy

which makes lifting the components harder.

[instrumental music]

Potential challenges are about the blades,

they are 75 meters long in this case.

With a dynamic designed to make sure

they're capturing the winds.

So if there are any gusting winds,

the blades will be more susceptible.

In 2019, the East Anglia One assembly

was set to face one of the
stormiest winters on record.

[instrumental music]

With that experience from
real exceptional weather,

the end of year 2019 and into early 2020,

I think at one point, three
inch storms came through

at a period of three weeks.

To avoid any accidents,
all operations stopped

when the wind was too strong.

But to keep on track, Charlie
had a trick up his sleeve.

The idea was essentially
just a second vessel.

So the idea of that
was we can be installing

some things in part of while

with two vessels, 100%
increase in the capacity

so that when the weather was good,

and weather appears in suitable conditions,

we could maximize the
installation during that period.

[instrumental music]

By moving fast during the windows

of good weather, the
team kept making progress

despite the disruptions.

[instrumental music]

July 11th, 2020,

the final turbine was connected
to the UK national grid.

Altogether, they generate


powering over 600,000 homes.

If you spend all this time
putting the pieces together,

and actually see bits of it working,

but when it comes together
and all turbines are operational,

everything was working how it's supposed to

is a fantastic achievement.

It really was an amazing achievement

and an amazing feeling for myself,

but for the hundreds of
people involved in this project.

The project had finished

on schedule and under budget.

Proof that offshore wind can generate

electricity at a competitive price.

[instrumental music]

With two-thirds of the earth's
surface covered in water,

the rise of offshore
wind seems unstoppable,

but its growth is limited
by a crucial factor.

Offshore wind has been really successful

so far in delivering in areas

where there's an abundance
of shallow water sites.

But there's a lot of parts of
the world like the West coast

of the United States and
South America and parts of Asia

where they just don't
have those shallow sites.

And in that case, some other
solution needs to be found.

Surveys have found that over 95%

of the world's seas and oceans

are too deep for jacket foundations.

The future of offshore wind may be limited

to only a handful of
coastal locations, after all

unless a completely new approach is found.

One possible solution was dreamt up

during a Norwegian Regatta in 2001.

Two engineers Knut
Solberg and Dag Christensen

were sailing when they noticed

a floating marker in the water.

They realized it was an
extremely stable structure.

The marker was being
pulled down by a tether

to the sea floor and being
pulled up by its buoyancy.

Those two opposing and balanced forces

meant it always returned
to a vertical position.

Dag and Knut wondered if the same principle

could be used to build
a floating wind turbine

where instead of a tight tether,

it would have heavy ballast in the bottom

pushing it downwards while air above,

gave buoyancy to pull it up.

[instrumental music]

Floating turbines could be put
almost anywhere in the ocean

but would they be stable enough in a storm?

Engineer Simen Moxnes
was brought in to find out.

My role in the early phase

was to run simulations to
demonstrate that the structure,

the floating structure
actually could survive

the worst hurricane conditions

that we could foresee
out there in the ocean.

What we discovered when
we run those simulations

was that the rocking motion back and forth,

what we call the pitch of
the structures was very big.

If we're pitching at 20 degrees, which is

quite wide and clear, and we knew that

such a standard wind
turbine that we intended

to use on our floating structure,

couldn't survive much more than 10 degrees.

[instrumental music]

To make the structure more stable,

the team needed to get the center

of gravity as low as possible.

So they tried a long cylindrical tank

containing very dense ballast.

Finally, they found a
design that worked in theory.

We're actually quite inspired.

And as what do you call it, as
happy as an engineer can be.

But for floating wind
power to be a success,

Simen and his team had to prove

that it would work in
a full scale wind farm.

[instrumental music]


testing smaller scale demos,

part of the world's
first floating wind farm

was under construction in Spain

and the shape had to be exactly right.

If we get a structure that
has bumps and bends,

then the forces and a
crack can create a leak,

and a leak will make
the floating structure sink.

[instrumental music]

The finished structures

are over 90 meters
long, 14 meters wide

and weigh over 2,000 tons.

The team loaded the Titanic
steel tanks on the ships

and sent them to the assembly location



By May, 2017,

the floating substructures had arrived

at Hardangerfjord in Norway.

Next, the team have to add the ballast.

While two tugboats hold
the substructure in place,

a third boat pumps water
inside through a hose.

But water alone is not heavy enough.

If you use water as ballast,

your center of gravity
will just not be low enough

and you will get a very floppy structure.

And that structure is not capable

of supporting a wind turbine with

heavy thrust from the wind.

The water makes one end

sink down 80 meters below the surface,

then they add iron ore,

which is five times denser than water

to lower the structure's center

of gravity and make it steadier.

Eventually, each structure is weighed down

by 5,000 tons of iron ore
and 3,000 tons of water,

taking the total weight to 12,000 tons,

equivalent to 2,000 African elephants.

The result is an
extraordinarily stable base

ready to hold the world's first array

of floating wind turbines.

[instrumental music]

At the nearby port of Stord,

all the turbine components
are being lined up.

The Fjord is 900 meters deep

and protected from severe weather.

But even here, the precise maneuvers

involved in building a wind turbine,

had difficult on floating foundations.

Instead the team first
assembled the turbines on land,

where it's stable, so
they can then be joined

to the floating bases in one piece.

[instrumental music]

But lifting such large turbines all at once

has never been tried before,

and there are only two vessels

in the world, large enough to do it.

That vessel is extremely expensive,

that means that you can't fool around

and use the time, you have to just

do the job, put it on,

and it has to land in perfect position.

The Saipem 7000,

two monster cranes are needed to lift

the 170 meter tall turbine.

This maneuver has never
been attempted before

and will test the team to their limits.

They must proceed with caution.

So it takes hours to lift

the first turbine out to its place.

Monica Pettersen is the
assembly site manager.

[in foreign language]

At the last minute,

the cranes stops lowering the turbine,

something seems to have gone wrong.

[in foreign language]

But despite its bulk, this vast ship

can move with pinpoint precision.

It's state of the art,
dynamic positioning system,

uses 12 thrusters to keep
the ship fixed in place.

[in foreign language]

After many hours,

the turbine is successfully
connected to its floating base.

A world first.

[in foreign language]

[instrumental music]

Over the next few days,

the other four turbines swiftly follow.

These vast structures
are now a massive 253

meters from top to bottom,

more than three times,

the height of the Queen Mary 2 ocean liner,

with 18 meters of that extending
unseen below the surface.

[instrumental music]

Then another world first,

towing the fully assembled
wind turbines across the sea

with so much drag, they
can only be moved safely

at five kilometers per hour,

making the journey to
Scotland, take five days.

September 2020,

the Scottish town of
Peterhead as their claim to fame.

An hour's boat ride from the port

is the only floating wind
farm anywhere on earth.

The turbines have now been generating power

for the town for three years.

We are at Highlands, Scotland,

which is the world's first
floating offshore wind farm.

Our floating wind farm
can actually utilize an area

like outside Peterhead,
which is extremely windy

like you can see today, which
shows consistent strong wind.

So you couldn't build a
bottom fixed wind farm here

because it's too deep,
but floating is perfect

From the surface, it's hard to tell

a floating turbine from a conventional one.

The only difference is that they do

have a slight vertical tilt

and you can spot that
there, if you look hard

Sonja Chirico Indrebo manages the array.

It's her job to monitor the performance

of the floating turbines.

We're testing for how well they perform

with production, but also

how the harsh environment
is impacting the turbines.

The wind farm was designed

to withstand hurricanes
and its moment of truth

came sooner than anyone expected.

This wind farm was put in
production in October, 2017.

And just a few days later,
the hurricane Ophelia crossed,

and had strong winds.

And we were of course really worried

about what's gonna happen

As the storm arrived,

the turbines were pushed backwards.

If they tilted more than 10 degrees,

the extra strain could have destroyed them.

When the wind speed
reached 90 kilometers per hour,

the rotors shut down to protect the turbine

from the powerful gusts.

And to shield the structure
from the impact of the waves

the floating base carried the whole

structure safely over them.

[instrumental music]

It was a chance for the turbines to show

that they can stand also
in this kind of conditions.

And what happened was that the turbines

were performing exactly as expected.

The floating structures survived.

But to be a success they have to also prove

they can generate as much power

as conventional wind turbines.

After three years of collecting data,

the results speak for themselves.

[instrumental music]

When we decided Highlands, Scotland,

we hoped to be able to demonstrate

that a floating wind farm
could produce as much energy

as a bottom fixed and
traditional wind farm.

What we learned was that indeed it can,

and it can even produce more

because we can place it in an area

with even more windy condition.

This wind farm is producing more hours

of power into the grid than
all the wind farms in the world.

[instrumental music]

In the meantime, conventional wind farms

are going from strength to strength

as costs continue to plummet.

No off shore wind has fallen a price which

is less than a third of
what it was 10 years ago

and which is now making it far cheaper

than producing power
from gas or coal or nuclear

For two months in 2020,

new offshore wind farms
helped Britain to go coal free

for the first time since
the industrial revolution.

But as well as providing
affordable low carbon power,

the offshore wind industry

is replacing fossil fuels in other ways.

These industrial coastal
towns were previously

very engaged in the oil and gas sector.

And in over 20, 30 year period,

those industries started to become

harder and harder to work in.

Many in East Anglia used to work

in the oil and gas sector.

The wind farms have given them

new careers and opportunities.

One of the wonderful
things that we could see

about offshore wind is that
we could actually breathe life

back into these coastal communities.

We could get those ports busy again,

doing engineering work
for offshore wind project.

But it was also a great thing
for the offshore wind industry

because we had the skilled workforce

ready and willing to come and work with us

and help us to deliver the
potential of offshore wind.

That workforce is now building

even bigger wind farms
and even larger turbines.

The latest prototype has 107

meter long blades.

Every sweep of its giant rotor

will power a household for two days.

Experts believe that by 2040,

offshore wind farms have the potential

to meet the world's
electricity demands, 11

times over.

Offshore wind has already
shown itself to be capable

of producing massive quantities of clean,

green, reliable, affordable power.

And these huge projects
that can actually be deployed

quite quickly, at massive scale,

creating loads of local benefits.

And if you look forward 10 years,

almost every area with a coastline

is going to be taking
advantage of that coast line.

And that's why offshore
wind has so much potential

for the electricity system in the future.

The winds of change are beginning to blow.

[instrumental music]