Work Starts on 288-megawatt Baltic 2 Windfarm

---

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) - Work has kicked off on the largest offshore windfarm planned for the German Baltic Sea.

The Baltic 2 windfarm being constructed by Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg AG (ETR:EBK) (EnBW) (Karlsruhe, Germany) with turbine manufacturer Siemens Energy Incorporated (Erlangen, Germany), will boast 80 turbines with a total generating capacity of 288 megawatts (MW). It will generate 1,200 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity per year, enough for approximately 340,000 households and offset the equivalent of 900,000 tons of CO2.

EnBW confirmed that the "Goliath" installation platform has left Rostock port for the windfarm, which is located 32 kilometers (km) north of the Baltic Sea island of Rugen. The news comes seven months after the project received a crucial investment loan of €500 million ($668 million) from the European Investment Bank (EIB). For additional information, see January 18, 2013, article - EIB Loans €500 Million to Baltic 2 Offshore Windf.

"With the installation of the foundations, we are starting on the decisive project phase in which our second offshore windfarm is now taking on specific form at sea," explained EnBW CTO Dr. Hans-Josef Zimmer. "We have worked quite some time to reach this point -- especially our offshore team. EnBW Baltic 2 will make an important contribution to further expanding the share of renewable energies within EnBW's generation mix. Following the construction of the first commercial offshore windfarm in Germany, we are now aiming for further projects of significantly greater dimensions. Our second offshore wind farm will be four times as large, and generate six times as much electricity."

EnBW's Baltic 1 was officially commissioned back in May 2011, when it became Germany's first commercial offshore windfarm in the region. Unlike Baltic 2 however, it has 21 smaller turbines and a generation capacity of just under 50 MW. For additional information, see May 4, 2011, article - Germany's Baltic 1 Offshore Windfarm Goes Live.

Transportation vessels will take the monopiles and three-legged jackets to the site for the foundations. The monopiles are then lifted by the Goliath installation vessel into position and anchored on the seabed. The jacket is then placed over the three monopiles and fixed using special cement. Each jacket can take up to five days to install, depending on weather. EnBW hopes to fully commission Baltic 2 next year.

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.