Iberdrola Advances First German Offshore Wind Project

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Spanish renewable energy giant Iberdrola SA (MCE:IBE) (Bilbao, Spain) took a step closer to building its first offshore windfarm in Germany this week with the submission of a key part of its planning application.

The company is aiming to construct the 400-megawatt (MW) Wikinger offshore plant, located approximately 35 kilometres off the northeast coast of Germany, beside the border with Denmark and near the island of Bornholm. Germany's offshore wind sector is small but has become very active this year, especially following the government's surprise U-turn on nuclear power. For additional information, see May 30, 2011, article - Germany Votes to Dump Nuclear Power. With a fast nuclear exit now planned, offshore wind is seen as a vital new energy resource that will be needed to help fill the energy gap in the long term.

Iberdrola has filed an extensive environmental impact statement (EIA) with the German Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency for a fixed foundation project, which would replace the floating turbine design that passed the first stage of planning approval in 2007. Back then, the windfarm was known as Offshore Wind Park Ventotec Ost II, but was renamed by Iberdrola when it acquired the project in 2010.

The submission outlines the proposed design of the windfarm alongside the EIA, and assuming Iberdrola gets the go-ahead, it will submit its final design for the site in early 2013, followed by detailed construction plans and all safety documentation in 2014. Construction is scheduled to start in 2015 with the first electricity being sent to the grid the following year.

"This is an important step forward for the Wikinger project, and a significant development in Iberdrola's global offshore wind power ambitions," said Keith Anderson, Chief Executive of ScottishPower Renewables and head of Iberdrola's Glasgow-based Global Offshore Division. "At 400 MW the proposed windfarm is a major project that would make a considerable contribution towards reducing carbon emissions in Germany. We are now developing offshore wind projects in the U.K., Germany and France, with a pipeline of around 10,000 MW."

Offshore wind capacity in Germany is negligible at the moment, compared to the country's robust onshore wind market, which stands at more than 27,000 MW. However, the government has big plans for offshore and has set a target of having 25,000 MW of offshore wind in place by 2030. To help achieve that goal, the German government announced plans in May to jumpstart the sector by having the KfW Development Bank make €5 billion ($7.24 billion) available for windfarm financing. In addition to this, the government intends to extend the generous guaranteed rates offshore windfarms get from 2015 to 2018 and also proposes a bonus of 2 eurocents per kilowatt-hour.

Earlier this month, energy giants RWE AG (OTC:RWEOY) (Essen, Germany) and E.ON AG (OTC:EONGY) (Dusseldorf, Germany) allied themselves with WindMW GmbH (Bremerhaven, Germany) to construct a giant maintenance and operations base for their planned offshore windfarms at the southern port on the island of Heligoland, 40 kilometres off the German coast. The three offshore windfarms will have a combined generating capacity of 883 MW. For additional information, see August 8, 2011, article - German Energy Giants Prepare For North Sea Wind.

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