Wind turbine installation on the Arkona offshore wind farm has been completed ahead of schedule and in record time, E.ON said.
The EUR 1.2 billion joint project between E.ON and the Norwegian energy company Equinor completed the installation of the wind turbines in record time and is largely finished, the German utility said.
According to E.ON, the construction time of just three months for 60 Siemens Gamesa 6MW wind turbines, including loading, weather downtimes and technical maintenance, was faster than ever before in the industry.
The turbine installation was carried out by A2SEA’s (now GeoSea’s) installation vessel Sea Challenger out of the Port Mukran.
“E.ON and Equinor deserve great recognition. The construction of 60 turbines on the foundations in less than three months is the fastest installation ever achieved worldwide,” said Jörg Kuhbier , Honorary Chairman of the Offshore Foundation.
Arkona has been producing renewable energy since September 2018. The construction of the offshore wind farm will be completed within the next few months. Arkona is scheduled to go into full operation in 2019.
“I congratulate the operators on the quick finalization of the wind farm. The excellent offshore infrastructure of the port in Mukran on the island of Rügen has made its contribution to this. The offshore wind farm Arkona sets a benchmark for the offshore wind business in Germany and beyond,” said Christian Pegel , Minister for Energy, Infrastructure and Digitization in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
The 385MW Arkona is located 35 kilometers northeast of the island of Rügen in the German Baltic Sea.
Holger Matthiesen , Project Director E.ON Climate & Renewables: “The Arkona project has completed the installation of the wind turbines safely and extremely efficiently. We are proud of this record. It is the result of excellent teamwork with our partners Siemens Gamesa, A2Sea and Port Mukran.”