E.ON and Equinor’s Arkona offshore wind project in the German Baltic Sea continues to strive for completion in record time. Now the energy company E.ON is reporting further progress: the wind farm has fed the first green electricity into the German Electrical grid. Arkona is thus right on schedule.
E.ON, the company responsible for construction and operation, cites the detailed planning and professionally implemented construction process as the reasons for the success. Collaterally with close cooperation 50 Hertz the transmission system operator was able to make it achievable for a partial feed-in option into the German high voltage electrical grid with their precise coordination, before the completion of all grid connections. Now that the first of the 60 turbines is online, further wind turbines are being commissioned step by step.
Sven Utermöhlen, COO of E.ON Climate & Renewables: “It only took one year from the first monopile installation to the first electricity feed-in. Rarely before has a project been built so straightforward. This is a great achievement on the part of our team and all our project partners and at the same time an important step towards further optimization of offshore wind projects.”
Pål Coldevin, head of New Energy Development at Equinor and Chairman of Arkona’s Steering Committee. “The first electricity from the Arkona wind project is a milestone in the renewable energy market. We are proud to contribute to this with E.ON and the 50Hertz transmission system operator. Arkona is Equinor’s fourth wind farm in Europe and an important contribution to Equinor’s strategy of evolving from a focused oil and gas company to a broad energy group.”
Together with the first electricity feed-in, the Arkona electrical offshore substation was also energized. E.ON/Equinor and 50Hertz jointly operator the platform. The optimal timing and technical coordination of the companies is helping to optimize offshore grid connection costs and to promptly advance the energy turnaround.
Frank Golletz, CTO of 50Hertz: “The concept of fast and cost-effective offshore grid connections in the Baltic Sea has also proven its worth in this project. Together with the Arkona wind farm, we have succeeded in planning and constructing an efficient, cost-effective, flexible and safe transformer platform. This is another important step for the development of offshore wind energy in the Baltic Sea.”
With the punctual commissioning of the wind turbines, the importance of the service building in the port of Mukran in Sassnitz on the island of Rügen will also increase. The operation of the wind farm is controlled from there. All 50 newly created jobs have been now be filled.
The Arkona project is in the final construction phase. The transformer substation and all 60 foundation foundations including connectors were installed ahead of schedule. The internal park cabling for connecting the turbines to the substation was also installed ahead of schedule. The towers, turbines and rotors are currently being installed on the high seas. Currently, 44 wind turbines have been completed. The aim is for all turbines to be installed by the end of the year and to feed renewable energy into the grid.
The Arkona project is located 35 kilometers northeast of the island of Rügen. The wind farm will have a capacity of 385 megawatts (MW) and can theoretically supply around 400,000 households with renewable energy. The investment volume amounts to €1.2 billion. Compared to conventionally generated electricity, Arkona saves up to 1.2 million tons of CO2 annually. It will install 60 turbines of the six-megawatt class manufactured by Siemens.
