EnBW has taken over the technical operations of the residential and transformer platform at the 400MW Bard Offshore 1 wind farm in the German North Sea.
To this end EnBW Offshore Service GmbH (EOS) has signed a three-year service agreement with the operator and owner of Bard Offshore 1, Ocean Breeze Energy GmbH (OBE).
With the service contract for Bard 1 platform, EnBW has taken the step towards the third-party supplier market for offshore services in the operations segment.
“We are very much looking forward to the collaboration, which for our team represents both familiar ground and new terrain. EnBW has been conversant with terrestrial transformer stations for many years, and with marine transformer stations for almost ten years,” said Michael Boll, Technical Director EOS.
“What is new for us is the North Sea and that our team will live at high sea,” Boll said, adding that the transformer station of Bard 1 is not only the workplace but also the living accommodation of the EOS team – as well as additional users of the available hotel business.
Bard Offshore 1, Germany’s first commercial wind farm in the North Sea, comprises 80 Bard 5.0 turbines installed about 100 kilometres off the German North Sea coast and has been fully connected to the power grid since September 2013.
The wind farm recently became the first to deliver over 3.5 terawatt hours of electricity to the German grid.
Ocean Breeze Energy is the owner and operator of the Bard Offshore 1 wind farm. UniCredit Bank AG indirectly holds 100% of Ocean Breeze Energy.