RWE Innogy awards wind farm contracts

RWE Innogy has agreed on a long-term partnership with Linnhoff Offshore AG and NSB shipping company (Niederelbe Schiffahrtsgesellschaft mbh & Co. KG), both based in Buxtehude near Hamburg, for the construction of its offshore wind farms.

The company Linnhoff supports RWE Innogy in port logistics including the loading of the offshore installation vessels and the coordination of additional logistics activities by sea and air. The NSB shipping company will assist in the supervision of the construction phase of the two installation vessels commissioned by RWE Innogy and is also responsible for the nautical and technical management of both ships.

NSB is one of the leading ship management companies in Germany with currently about 70 German-flagged ships (approx. 60 per cent of the NSB fleet). The cooperation with each of the two companies has been agreed for five years. During this period, RWE Innogy is investing more than € 50 million in the services of both companies. The contracts relate to both work for the erection of the German offshore wind farm "Nordsee Ost" off Helgoland and to "Gwynt y Môr“ off the Welsh coast.

The company Linnhoff will provide RWE Innogy with up to 14 employees for the coordination of sea and port logistics on a dedicated basis. The crew provided by NSB shipping company amounts to some 50 employees per vessel, who will be deployed in two shifts.

The offshore installation vessels commissioned by RWE Innogy are currently being built in a South Korean shipyard. The first of these largest installation vessels in the world will start the construction of the offshore wind farm "Nordsee Ost" (295 MW) from Bremerhaven in the autumn of this year. The second vessel will erect the "Gwynt y Môr“ wind power plant (576 MW) off North Wales a little later.

"With the construction of our own offshore installation vessels and the foundation of our offshore logistics company we made major preparations last year for the implementation of our large-scale offshore projects. The cooperation which has now been agreed with two of the most experienced service companies in the ship management and offshore wind industry is an important step for us. This not only provides us with first-class logistics know-how for the operation of our base ports and vessels, but also enables us to develop and implement long-term concepts and standards. This will provide us with enormous advantages for both the timely realisation of the projects and the extremely important issue of health and safety during construction", emphasises Paul Coffey, COO at RWE Innogy.

Alone or with partners RWE Innogy is currently erecting offshore wind power plants in Europe with an installed capacity of 1,000 MW. By 2014, the company will have obtained permits for additional offshore wind turbines projects totalling 5,000 MW.

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