Vattenfall, Stadtwerke München Decide to Invest in Sandbank OWF

Vattenfall and Stadtwerke München (SWM) have reached an investment agreement in the construction of the Sandbank offshore wind farm. The investment costs for Sandbank are around 1.2 billion euros.

Vattenfall holds a 51% stake in Sandbank Offshore GmbH, which has been set up to implement the project, while SWM holds 49%. Seventy-two Siemens wind power turbines in the 4-megawatt class will be erected, providing a total installed capacity of 288 MW. Construction is planned to start in 2015.

Following the DanTysk offshore wind farm, Sandbank is now the second largest infrastructure project that Vattenfall and SWM are undertaking together in the area of new energy technologies. DanTysk is currently in the final phase of construction and will enter into operation in 2015.

“The Sandbank project is further testament to Vattenfall’s strategy of consistently focusing our growth efforts on the expansion of renewable energy,” says Gunnar Groebler, Head of the Renewables Business Unit for Vattenfall’s Continental/UK region.

“We know how to work offshore and we see it as a significant building block in the success of the energy transition (Energiewende) in Germany. For this reason, we welcome the decision of policymakers who, with the new German Renewable Energy Act (EEG), have created a reliable framework for the projects currently underway. With projects such as Sandbank, the conditions have been created for further cost reductions in offshore wind power.”

Dr Florian Bieberbach,Chairman of the SWM board, comments: “Under the new Renewable Energy Act, Germany once again has a reliable framework for investment in renewable energy. We are happy and keen to seize this opportunity. As our first new project following the EEG enactment, we are constructing the Sandbank offshore wind farm together with Vattenfall. This will bring our expansion target for renewable energy another step closer to realisation. By 2025, we aim to be generating enough green power through our own generation plants to supply all of Munich.

“With our share in Sandbank, our green electricity production volumes will rise to over 3.5 billion kilowatt hours. That represents almost 47% of Munich’s electricity consumption, which is currently 7.5 billion kWh per year. Given the very good experience that we have had in cooperating with Vattenfall to date, we are looking forward to this second project with them.”

On the construction of the Sandbank offshore wind farm,Torsten Albig, Minister President of Schleswig Holstein, remarks: “The decision to invest in the Sandbank offshore project is a step forward that will also strengthen Schleswig-Holstein’s energy position for the long term. Following on from the DanTysk offshore project, this new project off the coast of Schleswig-Holstein sees Vattenfall and SWM making another important contribution to the success of the energy transition in the North and in Germany as a whole.”