Germany: RWE Receives Permit for Innogy Nordsee 1 Offshore Wind Farm

RWE Innogy today received the permit for the construction of the Innogy Nordsee 1 offshore wind farm. The construction field of the wind power plant is located some 40 kilometres north of the island of Juist and covers approx. 34 square kilometres.

Together with the wind farms Innogy Nordsee 2 and Innogy Nordsee 3, some 160 wind turbines with a capacity of approx. 1,000 megawatts (MW) are to be erected on an area of some 100 square kilometres in the next few years. Following its acquisition, RWE divided up the wind farm into three parts of roughly equal size, each going through a separate consenting process. The permit now granted by the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency covers the first part of this area with 54 wind turbines. The permits for the two other parts, i.e. Innogy Nordsee 2 with 48 turbines and Innogy Nordsee 3 with 60 turbines, are also expected shortly.

 Professor Fritz Vahrenholt, Chief Executive Officer of RWE Innogy GmbH: “The first permit for our Innogy Nordsee 1 offshore wind farm is an important milestone for us which we have been pursuing for about three years. After all, this is the largest offshore wind farm developed in Germany. This project plays a prominent role within RWE’s development strategy for renewable energies.”

At the end of 2008, RWE Innogy had acquired the rights for the Innogy Nordsee 1 project from the project development company ENOVA. The tendering process for the key components of the first development stage, such as turbines, foundations, cables and substation, began in autumn 2011 and is still ongoing. The plans provide the erection of multi-megawatt turbines of the 6 MW class on steel lattice foundations (jackets) at a water depth ranging between 26 and34 metres.

Dr. Hans Bünting, CFO of RWE Innogy: “The final investment decision requires planning clarity for grid connection and assumption of liability risks. The working group established by the federal government to accelerate the offshore grid connections has come up with good and pragmatic proposals. These proposals should now be translated quickly into legislation so that the development of offshore wind power can continue quickly in Germany.”

Subject to the grid connection issue and the final investment decisions, the plans provide the start of construction for the first development stage in spring 2014. The total investment for all stages is estimated at some € 3 billion.

The Innogy Nordsee 1 wind farm is the second largest offshore wind project realised by RWE Innogy in German waters. The Nordsee Ost wind farm some 30 kilometres north of Heligoland is currently under construction. The instrumentation tower was installed in the sea at the end of last year. The installation of the foundations will commence this summer. At present, RWE Innogy is building offshore wind farms in Europe with a total capacity of some 1,000 MW.

[mappress]

Offshore WIND staff, April 04, 2012; Image: rwe