First Turbine Installed for DanTysk Offshore Windfarm

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Germany might be reining in its support for renewable energy, but it is full steam ahead at the DanTysk offshore windfarm, where the first of 80 turbines has just been installed.

Swedish energy company Vattenfall AB (Stockholm, Sweden) and German partner, Stadtwerke Munchen GmBH (SWM) (Munich), control 51% and 49% of the project, respectively. Located 70 kilometers (km) west of the island of Sylt, the windfarm would have a total generating capacity of 288-megawatts (MW) when completed. Covering an area of 70 square kilometers in the German Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) on the border of Danish territorial waters, the windfarm will be able to generate enough power for approximately 350,000 homes. The original windfarm was to have had a generating output of 400 MW, before being resized in recent years.

The companies confirmed that the 3.6-MW class turbine from Siemens Energy (NYSE:SI) (Munich, Germany) has been erected successfully, with a maximum rotor tip height above sea level of just under 150 meters. All 80 turbines should be erected within the next five months, according to Vattenfall. Commissioning of the windfarm is planned for autumn this year.

The Pacific Osprey erection ship was loaded with the system components at the DanTysk base port in Esbjerg, Denmark. The ship is capable of transporting and erecting system components for up to 11 wind turbines in a single trip.

"The offshore industry in Germany has made enormous strides on the technical and logistical fronts and can be quite proud of this," said Gunnar Groebler, head of the Renewable Energy Division of the Continental Europe/UK Regional Unit at Vattenfall, at the start of the construction activities. "In order to successfully pursue the envisaged expansion of offshore wind energy in Germany, with the associated prolonged planning phases, the main thing we need is a reliable regulatory environment."

Christian Vogt, head of Corporate Investment Management at Stadtwerke München, added: "We are pleased that DanTysk is now entering the final erection phase. This windfarm is SWM's third offshore project for which turbine erection has already started. Once the regulatory situation in Germany has stabilized, SWM can certainly consider additional offshore projects, including projects in German territorial waters."

Last week, key reforms to Germany's renewable energy support system were passed by Parliament in an effort to cut the cost of subsidizing renewables and put a halt to the country's spiraling electricity prices. The changes to the Renewable Energies Act (EEG) include limits of 2,500 MW capacity per year applied to onshore wind and solar photovoltaic (PV), as well a cap of 6,500 MW until 2020 on offshore wind. For additional information, see April 14, 2014, 2013, article - German Energy Reform Approved.

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