Today, Federal Environment Minister Dr. Norbert Röttgen together with Chief Executive Officers Dr. Werner Brinker of EWE, Dr. Wulf Bernotat of E.ON and Tuomo Hatakka of Vattenfall Europe are commissioning Germany’s first offshore wind farm during a ceremony in Norddeich. Alpha ventus is the first open sea wind farm of its kind in Germany’s territorial waters.

It marks the beginning of a new era in environmentally-friendly power generation in Germany – far from the coast in the open sea, in deep-sea conditions and utilising cutting-edge technology. Alpha ventus was constructed 45 kilometres off the coast of the island of Borkum by a consortium of EWE, E.ON and Vattenfall Europe, who together have invested 250 million Euros to bring this project to its successful completion. Alongside clean power generation, alpha ventus also serves as a test field for research projects concerned with nature conservation, which are aided by the Federal Ministry for the Environment. Additionally, the wind farm will provide invaluable knowledge as regards the utilisation and the further development of offshore wind power.