Germany: Windkraft FiT Gets Thumbs Up to Use STRABAG’s Surface Foundations

Wind farm contractor Windkraft FiT GmbH has received approval from Germany’s Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) to build the Albatros 1 offshore wind farm using surface foundations developed by European construction group STRABAG.

The Albatros 1 project is located in the “Nördlich Austerngrund” wind energy priority area within the Exclusive Economic Zone in the North Sea.

The first phase involves the installation of ten offshore wind energy converters on top of gravity foundations as a low-noise foundation alternative. As part of an extensive accompanying research package, the project includes a thorough investigation of technicalissues and environmental aspects by well-knownresearch institutions.

The foundations will be produced in Cuxhaven, where STRABAG is also planning to build a production site for theserial production of gravity foundations. As a next step towards project realisation, Windkraft FiT GmbH at the endof February submitted all the necessary documents to TenneT, the electricity transmission system operatorresponsible for the German North Sea, on schedule to receive the unconditional grid connection offer.

STRABAG SE is one of Europe’s leading construction groups. With 76,900 employees, STRABAG generated aconstruction output volume of € 14.3 billion in the 2011 financial year. From its core markets of Austria andGermany, STRABAG is present via its numerous subsidiaries in all countries of Eastern and South-East Europe, in selected markets in Western Europe and on the Arabian Peninsula. STRABAG’s activities span the entirerange of construction services (Building Construction & Civil Engineering, Transportation InfrastructuresSpecial Ground Engineering and Tunnelling) and cover the entire value chain in the field of construction.

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Offshore WIND  Staff, March 19, 2012