Apr 20 2009
At this year’s Hanover trade show Siemens Energy and EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG today signed a contract for the supply of 21 SWT 2.3-93 wind turbines for the Baltic 1 offshore wind farm.
The major order with an investment volume in the mid-range double-digit millions is a further important milestone in the realization of Germany’s first commercial offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea. Baltic 1 will be located approximately 16 kilometers north of the Darss/Zingst peninsula and will cover an area of approximately seven square kilometers. Maritime civil engineering work will commence in early 2010. The wind farm with a total capacity of 48.3 megawatts is scheduled to come on line in the last quarter of 2010.
“With the signing of the contract today we have taken a major step toward the realization of Baltic 1 as a central aspect of our commitment in the field of offshore wind farms. As one of the very first commercial projects in German waters, the project is of special significance for the offshore sector in Germany in general and for EnBW in particular,” stressed Dr. Hans-Josef Zimmer, Member of the Board and CTO of EnBW, at the contract signing ceremony.
With an installed offshore capacity of over 600 MW and an order backlog totaling more than 3300 MW Siemens is the leading vendor of wind turbines for offshore applications. “2009 promises to be a record year for offshore wind power,” said Dr. René Umlauft, CEO of the Siemens Renewable Energy Division. This year Siemens has started with the construction of five offshore wind farms in Britain and Denmark. “The order for Baltic 1 shows that the German market is now also slowly picking up speed.” The potential for offshore wind farms is enormous. To date, only 1.5 percent of the options available in the North Sea and Baltic have been developed,” added Umlauft.
Baltic 1 is one of four offshore wind power projects with a combined capacity of approximately 1200 MW, which EnBW secured in early 2008. Two of these projects are located in the Baltic Sea, Baltic 1 and Kriegers Flak, and another two “He dreiht” and “Hochseewindpark Nordsee” in the North Sea. The projects with a total investment volume of approximately three billion euros will be realized successively in the next few years. EnBW’s aim is to almost double the share of renewables in its energy mix from today’s figure of approximately 11% to 20% by the year 2020. EnBW also intends to significantly expand its wind power generating capacities.