The 288 MW EnBW Baltic 2 offshore wind farm in the German Baltic Sea will be serviced from the Danish port of Klintholm on the island of Møn from August 2020, EnBW said.
Until now, the company’s service team of up to 25 has travelled from Rostock to a hotel vessel close to the wind farm.
A hotel and a service building are now being constructed in Klintholm, from where the employees will be ferried to the wind farm in the mornings and evenings during their two-week duty roster.
From August onward, the technicians will commute from the port on Sun Light and Moon Light, two crew transfer vessels (CTVs) chartered from a Dutch shipping company.
“The proximity to our wind farms offers us unique opportunities here,” said Kent Hougaard of EnBW Offshore Services Danmark (EOS).
“We expect noticeable savings and synergies as the journey from Klintholm harbour only takes just over an hour . ”
Located in German territorial waters with depths ranging from 23 to 44 metres, the Baltic 2 wind farm is about 40 kilometres east of Møns Klint, close to the meeting point of the Danish, Swedish and German maritime borders.
Klintholm in Denmark is nevertheless better situated for servicing the turbines than any German port, EnBW said.
The company will consequently be relocating a large part of its operating team from Rostock to Møn.
The hotel to accommodate the service team is scheduled to open in August. The service building in the port area is scheduled for completion as early as July when the first spare parts will be taken into storage there. Both buildings are rented out under contract for at least ten years.
The Baltic 2 wind farm’s 80 Siemens SWT-3.6-120 wind turbines have been supplying some 340,000 households with renewable electricity since 2015.
The wind farm continues to be controlled by a remote data link from the control room in Barhöft, Mecklenburg, Germany.