Iberdrola has officially opened its Wkinger offshore wind farm in Germany on 29 October, together with the transmission system operator 50Hertz and authorities from the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
The event, which took place at the port of Sassnitz-Mukran, was attended by Iberdrola’s Business CEO, Francisco Martínez Córcoles, the Minister of Energy, Infrastructure and Digitisation of the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Christian Pegel, and the CEO of 50 Hertz, Boris Schucht.
“Wikinger represents a new step in our commitment to supplying clean, efficient and reliable electricity. We will continue to champion offshore wind technology since it enables us to drive the energy transition to a sustainable, low carbon economy,” said the Chairman of Iberdrola, Ignacio Galán . “[T]his wind farm is a clear example of cutting-edge technology and it showcases the enormous potential of Europe’s energy industry to lead the Continent’s reindustrialization through innovation.”
Iberdrola said that, to build the Wikinger project, it had had to overcome the technological challenges inherent to this type of work and the difficulties arising from the extreme weather conditions in the Baltic Sea. Over 2,000 employees from 20 different countries participated in bringing the project to life.
The 350MW offshore wind farm, worth EUR 1.4 billion, is located off the north-eastern coast of the German island of Rügen and will power some 350,000 German households, representing more than 20% of the energy demand in the region of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Wikinger comprises 70 Adwen 5MW wind turbines, which will generate clean energy equivalent to avoiding the emission of 600,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere per year.
The final wind turbine was installed on 22 October 2017, and the project was linked to the national grid two months later.
The Wikinger project marks Iberdrola’s entry into the German market, where it has recently been awarded the construction of two other offshore wind farms: Baltic Eagle (476MW) and Wikinger Süd (10MW).
Together with Wikinger, these three wind farms, located off the island of Rügen, will form the largest offshore wind complex in the Baltic Sea, with a total installed capacity of 836MW and a combined investment of EUR 2.5 billion.