In the Oresund strait, seven kilometers off Malmo’s coast, 48 wind turbines on 20-meter-high concrete foundations rotate in the Baltic breeze. This is Lillgrund, an offshore wind farm that generates 110 megawatts of electricity – enough to supply around 60,000 homes – nearly carbon-free. Compared to the fossil energy mix, Lillgrund saves roughly 300,000 tons of carbon emissions a year. Siemens supplied the entire wind farm, complete with its grid connection, to Swedish energy utility Vattenfall as a turnkey project.

But how does Lillgrund impact the environment? Specialists at Siemens sought to answer this question with a lifecycle assessment focusing on two main factors: the wind farm’s carbon footprint, and how long it would take for the power generated by Lillgrund to offset the energy consumed in building and operating the facility. “The term carbon footprint describes the quantity of greenhouse gases caused by a product over the course of its lifecycle,” explains Siemens Energy’s Falko Parthey, who headed the LCA. “To calculate the footprint, we analyzed all 48 turbines, the transformer station, the foundations and the link to the grid. We based our analysis on the standard method that we apply with any power plant.”

Working to the ISO 14040 environmental management standard, Siemens’ team of three experts examined all key phases in the wind farm’s lifecycle. They began with the materials used, because the extraction of raw materials – ores, for example, and their processing to produce steel by the suppliers – had to be included in the analysis. Our engineers also assessed the production processes, transportation and commissioning as well as the active use phase, maintenance and eventual disposal. “Thanks to the excellent support we received from our suppliers, we were able to obtain quality data,” Parthey is pleased to report. “In future analyses, we plan to collaborate even more closely with suppliers and discuss the detailed findings for their respective components.” The analysis produced valuable findings: the size of Lillgrund’s carbon footprint and the quantity of carbon emissions avoided. The exact results of the analysis will be published online as a Type II environmental product declaration in line with the ISO 14021 standard.

Vattenfall is also extremely pleased with the outcome of the lifecycle assessment. Anders Dahl, CEO of Vattenfall Vindkraft AB, said: “It’s really satisfying to be able to build a new power generating facility on this scale to high environmental standards" (Vattenfall CSR Report 2005, page 19).