Blaiken wind farm, located in Northern Sweden, consists of 99 turbines. It is one of the largest wind farms in Europe. Blaiken Vind is owned by a joint venture of big utilities Skellefteå Kraft and Fortum, experienced in cold climate conditions in Northern Europe. Thus, the wind turbine suppliers were required to have a solution for the blade icing problem.
The wind farm is built in four batches (Blaiken 1–4). Wind turbine supplier for Blaiken 1 and 2, total of 60 turbines, was Nordex with its 2,5 MW rated machine. Nordex licensed the carbon fabric blade heating technology and successfully implemented the technology for its turbine with help of the same research center in Finland, where Wicetec was born.
For Blaiken 3 and 4, the turbine supplier was Chinese Dongfang, who supplied 39 turbines with 2,5 MW rating. These turbines were the first Chinese wind turbines in Europe. Dongfang’s blade heating technology is based on carbon fabric surface heating, licensed by Wicetec, and combined with a supplemental hot air circulation inside the blade.
Wicetec provides service support for Dongfang and Blaiken Vind to secure efficient production in winter time. Wicetec also helps the customer continuously to optimize the operation of WIPS and wind turbine.