Germany: Federal Minister for Environment Visits AREVA Wind

During a visit to the wind turbine manufacturer AREVA Wind, the Federal Environment Minister, Peter Altmaier, was given a demonstration of the proven offshore technology.

Yesterday the Federal Environment Minister, Peter Altmaier, paid a visit to the AREVA Wind production site in Bremerhaven. Accompanied by the General Manager of AREVA Wind, Jean Huby, the minister received an impression of how wind turbines are produced. Minister Altmaier visited the production hall in which the M5000 5 megawatt wind turbine is built.

“I was quite impressed to see how carefully and precisely these huge offshore wind turbines are produced, and with how little noise. I could see them in action this morning during my flight over Germany’s first offshore windpark alpha ven-tus. The industry has already proven with success the reliability and availability of offshore wind turbines. I am convinced that this proven technology has a high potential for making a crucial contribution to an environmentally friendly produc-tion of electricity in Germany”, said the Federal Environment Minister Altmaier after his tour through the plant.

During his visit, the Federal Minister was shown four nacelles in production. Their centerpieces – gearbox and generator – are assembled on site in Bremerhaven and enclosed in the gearbox housing. Their hybrid drive (a combination of direct drive and gearbox) makes AREVA Wind plants one of the most reliable and compact products in the industry.

Jean Huby, Director of AREVA’s Offshore Wind Business Unit, commented: “Offshore Wind is an essential component of our portfolio of low-carbon power generation technologies, and very important for our Group. We are therefore very happy that the Federal Environment Minister, Mr. Altmaier, has come to our Bremerhaven site to see for himself the rapid expansion of our production. With the continuous development of our technology, large investments and the crea-tion of hundreds of jobs here at the Bremerhaven site we are making our contri-bution to the important topic of power supply and to cost-optimized power gen-eration. We are confident that the Federal Government will continue to develop the framework conditions for making the promise of a sustainable offshore wind industry come true in Germany.”

AREVA Wind employs more than 650 people in Bremerhaven and in total more than 800 people, including the rotor blades manufacturing facility in Stade and an administration office in Hamburg.

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Offshore WIND staff, August 22, 2012; Image: areva