Siemens Wins Dutch Offshore Windfarm Deal

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) - German engineering company Siemens AG's (NYSE:SI) (Munich, Germany) has secured a 150-turbine deal for the Netherlands' largest offshore windfarm development.

The company has been picked to install, service and maintain turbines for the 600-megawatt (MW) Gemini wind project, in a deal worth more than €1.5 billion ($2 billion). The project, which will boast 4-megawatt (MW) turbines with a rotor diameter of 130 meters each, has a total construction budget of around €3 billion ($4 billion).

Located in the North Sea, 85 kilometers (km) above the coast of Groningen, Gemini will produce 2.6 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity per year, enough to supply one and a half million people. It will also result in a reduction in CO2 emissions of around 1.25 million tons per year. The deal is Siemens' first in Dutch waters and comes with a 15-year service and maintenance agreement, the largest service order ever for the Siemens Energy Service division. In a new twist, the project will be the first where a helicopter will be available at all times, alongside a specially designed, purpose-built service operation vessel (SOV) based at the windfarm.

Randy Zwirn, chief executive officer of Energy Service for Siemens Energy added, "Wind energy is becoming increasingly important to the world's energy mix. Therefore wind turbines need to operate at optimum levels over their entire service life."

"With project financing and all building and supply contracts now in place, our focus has already shifted to the construction phase," explained Matthias Haag, CEO of Gemini. "We have assembled a team of experts in the offshore wind industry, and will be working closely with Northland Power, Siemens and Van Oord to make offshore wind power a vital and significant part of the Netherlands' electricity supply." The Netherlands is aiming to produce 14% of its power from renewables by 2020. Today, it has an installed wind power capacity of 2.7 gigawatts (GW), with the vast majority of that [2.45 GW] located onshore. The government aims to add 4.45 GW of offshore wind by 2023.

"With the project we are entering one of the most important emerging offshore wind markets in Europe," said Markus Tacke, chief executive officer of the Wind Power Division of Siemens Energy.

The project is 60% owned by Northland Power Incorporated (OTC:NPIFF) (Toronto, Ontario), a Canadian independent power producer. Siemens Financial Services owns 20%, while smaller stakes belong to Van Oord (10%) and HVC (10%), a joint venture of 48 Dutch municipalities and six water regulatory authorities.

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