The Nordsee Ost wind farm was officially inaugurated on the occasion of the meeting of the G7 Energy Ministers in Hamburg, on May 8.
The inauguration was attended by the German Minister of Economics, Sigmar Gabriel, and his fellow ministers from the G7 states, as well as Peter Terium, CEO of RWE AG, Hans Bünting, CEO of RWE Innogy, and Mel Kroon, CEO of Tennet.
With an installed capacity of 295 megawatts, Nordsee Ost is one of the largest wind farms off the German coast. It is located about 35 kilometres north of Heligoland and covers approx. 24 km2, with water depths of up to 25 metres. In total, 48 wind turbines will produce sufficient green power to supply the equivalent of about 320,000 households annually.
RWE invested more than one billion euros in the construction of the wind farm. In addition, the European Union contributed a total of 50 million euros to the realisation of Nordsee Ost as one of the lighthouse projects in the field of renewable energies.
Construction was carried out from the base port in Bremerhaven. The foundations, tower segments, nacelles and rotor blades were stored, pre-assembled and loaded onto the installation vessels “Victoria Mathias” and “Friedrich Ernestine” at the Eurogate Container Terminal.
For the next 20 years, the Nordsee Ost wind farm will be operated and serviced by RWE’s own operating station on the island of Heligoland. The control room will monitor the operation. The company has built extra apartment blocks on the island to house its staff who will work in two-week shifts.
In June, RWE will inaugurate the British wind farm Gwynt y Môr, which has an installed capacity of 576 MW and is situated off the Welsh coast. This wind farm has been built by RWE in cooperation with its partners, Siemens and the municipal utilities of Munich.
Images: BMWi; Featured image: RWE