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Released July 31, 2013 | GALWAY, IRELAND
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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Construction has started to transform the island of Heligoland in the North Sea into the hub of Germany's offshore wind plans.
RWE Innogy, part of RWE AG (OTC:RWEOY) (Essen, Germany), is one of three energy majors that have joined forces to make Heligoland Island their centre for maintenance and operations for several North Sea offshore windfarms. The company confirmed that it has started building its operations and service station in the southern port of the island. Covering an area of around 3,000 square meters, the two-story building housing a warehouse, offices and a workshop will be built next to the external storage areas. The three companies believe that Heligoland Island, which lies 40 kilometers off the German coast, is ideally suited to service offshore wind turbines, which tend to take a greater battering from the elements than their onshore counterparts.
From this base, RWE Innogy said the 295-megawatt (MW) Nordsee Ost windfarm, which is being erected 30 kilometers north of the island, will be operated and serviced for the next 20 years.
"We will only use sustainable materials for the building so that we can have the new building certified by the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) and meet the island's requirements as a site for recreation," said Peggy Kleidon, project engineer at RWE Innogy. "We also place great emphasis on co-operating with local partners. The [two]companies, HC Hagemann GmbH & Co. KG (who has a branch on Heligoland), and Helgoland Fracht-Kontor GmbH, for instance, are involved in the construction of our service station through our general contractor, the company Knoll."
In May this year E.ON AG (OTC:EONGY) (Dusseldorf, Germany) and WindMW GmbH (Bremerhaven, Germany) signed agreements with Jorg Singer, the Mayor of Heligoland, to use several plots of land for their own bases. For additional information, see May 4, 2013, article - Germany's Offshore Wind Island Progresses.
"Contrary to onshore wind turbines, turbines at sea cannot be maintained and serviced at any time of day and night," Kleidon added. "Waves, wind and weather challenge our service engineers with completely new tasks. We, therefore, not only need sound planning and reliable equipment in the form of ships and helicopters, but first and foremost we also need a secure operations base, which is located as near to the windfarm as possible -- for, at sea, every kilometer counts."
In August 2012, E.ON, WindMW and RWE Innogy revealed plans to construct a giant maintenance and operations base for their combined offshore windfarms at the southern port on Heligoland. The base will be designed to serve a total of three offshore windfarms with a combined generating capacity of 871 MW. The windfarms include RWE's Nordsee Ost (295 MW), E.ON's Amrumbank West (288 MW) and the Süd and Meerwind Ost (288 MW), which is being built by WindMW. For additional information, see August 8, 2011, article - German Energy Giants Prepare For North Sea Wind.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.
RWE Innogy, part of RWE AG (OTC:RWEOY) (Essen, Germany), is one of three energy majors that have joined forces to make Heligoland Island their centre for maintenance and operations for several North Sea offshore windfarms. The company confirmed that it has started building its operations and service station in the southern port of the island. Covering an area of around 3,000 square meters, the two-story building housing a warehouse, offices and a workshop will be built next to the external storage areas. The three companies believe that Heligoland Island, which lies 40 kilometers off the German coast, is ideally suited to service offshore wind turbines, which tend to take a greater battering from the elements than their onshore counterparts.
From this base, RWE Innogy said the 295-megawatt (MW) Nordsee Ost windfarm, which is being erected 30 kilometers north of the island, will be operated and serviced for the next 20 years.
"We will only use sustainable materials for the building so that we can have the new building certified by the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) and meet the island's requirements as a site for recreation," said Peggy Kleidon, project engineer at RWE Innogy. "We also place great emphasis on co-operating with local partners. The [two]companies, HC Hagemann GmbH & Co. KG (who has a branch on Heligoland), and Helgoland Fracht-Kontor GmbH, for instance, are involved in the construction of our service station through our general contractor, the company Knoll."
In May this year E.ON AG (OTC:EONGY) (Dusseldorf, Germany) and WindMW GmbH (Bremerhaven, Germany) signed agreements with Jorg Singer, the Mayor of Heligoland, to use several plots of land for their own bases. For additional information, see May 4, 2013, article - Germany's Offshore Wind Island Progresses.
"Contrary to onshore wind turbines, turbines at sea cannot be maintained and serviced at any time of day and night," Kleidon added. "Waves, wind and weather challenge our service engineers with completely new tasks. We, therefore, not only need sound planning and reliable equipment in the form of ships and helicopters, but first and foremost we also need a secure operations base, which is located as near to the windfarm as possible -- for, at sea, every kilometer counts."
In August 2012, E.ON, WindMW and RWE Innogy revealed plans to construct a giant maintenance and operations base for their combined offshore windfarms at the southern port on Heligoland. The base will be designed to serve a total of three offshore windfarms with a combined generating capacity of 871 MW. The windfarms include RWE's Nordsee Ost (295 MW), E.ON's Amrumbank West (288 MW) and the Süd and Meerwind Ost (288 MW), which is being built by WindMW. For additional information, see August 8, 2011, article - German Energy Giants Prepare For North Sea Wind.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.
