REpower and RWE Innogy sign contract for 295 MW for offshore wind farm off Helgoland

“Nordsee Ost” is the first project under the framework agreement concluded between REpower and RWE Innogy in February 2009 – one of the biggest in the history of the wind power sector – for the delivery of up to 250 offshore turbines of the type REpower 5M/6M. REpower will supply the nacelles and hubs after manufacturing the same at the company’s offshore production facility in Bremerhaven as well as the rotor blades and towers for the project. REpower will also be responsible for the start-up of the wind farm and for servicing. “Nordsee Ost” will be co-funded by the European Commission under the EEPR-program.

Paul Coffey, Member of the Management Board at RWE Innogy, says: "With “Nordsee Ost” we are realizing a German offshore wind energy project that has already received all the required permits. The framework agreement with REpower gives us the flexibility to change our original plans and to start installation somewhat earlier, before we receive planning permission for our second German North Sea Project, Innogy Nordsee 1. We’ll be investing about a billion Euros in “Nordsee Ost”. We’ve already gathered some positive initial operational experience with the REpower 5M turbines at our Belgian offshore project Thornton Bank."

Per Hornung Pedersen, Chief Executive Officer of REpower Systems AG, adds: "Today we are pleased to announce the first project under the framework agreement with RWE Innogy. Meanwhile REpower has become one of the few manufacturers with several years of experience in the installation of offshore wind farms in Europe – so far in Scotland, Belgium and Germany."

Matthias Schubert, as CTO of REpower also responsible for the company’s offshore operations, says: "We already showed in 2006, with our first offshore project Beatrice, 16 miles (25 km) off the Scottish coast, that we can set up turbines at a depth of 44 meters. Beatrice is currently the northernmost and deepest offshore wind farm in the world. And quite recently we successfully installed the first German offshore wind farm alpha ventus – partly under rather difficult weather conditions – with six REpower 5M turbines. By this, we have built up the learning curve for our offshore activities very systematically. We are pleased to be realizing one of the first major North Sea projects off the German coast for RWE Innogy.

With a rated capacity of respectively 5 and 6.15 megawatts, and a rotor diameter of 126 meters, the 5M and 6M are among the biggest and most powerful wind turbines in the world. Since 2004 REpower has set up a total of 26 5Ms and 6Ms both onshore and offshore.

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