After a tender process, IBERDROLA and Areva Wind have entered a preferred turbine supplier agreement for the Wikinger offshore wind project in the Baltic Sea, with construction scheduled for 2016 and 2017.
Under the terms of the agreement, AREVA Wind will support IBERDROLA on foundation and tower design optimization, project logistics, installation concept and project certification with regulator Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie (BSH).
The Wikinger offshore wind project, currently being developed in German territorial waters of the Baltic Sea, will have approximately 400 megawatts (MW) installed capacity.
The M5000, the first 5MW wind turbine designed exclusively for large-scale offshore wind farms, will be manufactured at Areva’s facilities in Bremerhaven (Germany). When signed, the contract will also include equipment transportation, installation, commissioning and maintenance.
This will be the first time that IBERDROLA installs 5 MW turbines at a wind farm, representing a great technological leap forward for the company. The turbines will be located some 35 kilometres off the coast of the German Island of Rügen, covering an area of 34 square kilometres in the Baltic Sea. The wind farm will produce enough green clean energy to power 350,000 homes.
IBERDROLA is also considering using as a complement to the facility the new offshore wind turbine being developed by Gamesa.
Final investment decision will only be made if economic and technical feasibility studies, currently being performed by the company, show positive results. IBERDROLA’s offshore wind project pipeline in Germany stands at over 2,000 MW.
IBERDROLA, committed to offshore wind energy
IBERDROLA is committed to fostering the development of offshore wind technology , key to the company’s future growth. It is advancing in this industry with the necessary caution that any large investment demands.
With offices in Glasgow, London, Berlin, Madrid and Paris, the Offshore Business Division of IBERDROLA is developing a project pipeline of over 11,000 MW across Europe. Key projects are located in the United Kingdom, Germany and France.
It is one the most challenging renewable energy programmes in history, through which some 40,000 new jobs will be created, thus boosting economic development in the areas where projects are being developed.
West of Duddon Sands, developed jointly by IBERDROLA and Dong in the Irish Sea, will be the first offshore project to begin construction. With an installed capacity of 389 MW, the facility will create 500 construction jobs and will be commissioned in 2013.
Among the long term projects, East Anglia offshore stands out for its size. When completed, it will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm, with 7,200 MW capacity, enough to supply 5 million homes.
East Anglia Offshore Wind (EAOW), a 50-50 joint venture between Vattenfall and ScottishPower Renewables, has formally submitted a planning application for the first phase, a 1,200MW offshore wind farm off the coast of East Anglia. The development, known as East Anglia One, will require up to 325 wind turbines covering an area of 300 km2 in the southern North Sea. The project will be able to power the annual electricity demands of around 800,000 homes.
Also, the consortium led by IBERDROLA and Eole-RES is conducting geotechnical feasibility studies at its 500 MW offshore wind project in the area of Saint-Brieuc, off the coast of Brittany, in France.
With renewables operations in 23 countries, IBERDROLA is the world leader in its sector by both installed capacity, with over 14,300 MW at the end of September 2012, and output, with over 23,300 million kilowatt hours generated in the first nine months of 2012.
