RWE Innogy and Eurogate Container Terminal Bremerhaven have entered into agreements on use of areas in the Bremerhaven container port. Starting next summer, RWE Innogy will use these areas as a base port for constructing its offshore Nordsee Ost wind farm.
The lease agreements are to run for a term of two years and cover areas totaling a maximum of 17 hectares and a directly adjacent quay of up to 400mt on Container Terminal 1 in Bremerhaven.
From this base, a total of 48 wind turbines of the 6MW class and the corresponding foundations will as of next year be pre-assembled, shipped and assembled at the wind farm site approximately 35km to the north of the island of Helgoland. The Nordsee Ost offshore wind farm with a total installed capacity of 295MW is due to be switched on in 2013.
RWE Innogy has commissioned construction of special offshore construction ships from the Korean shipbuilders Daewoo at the end of last year. The first ship is scheduled for completion in autumn 2011 and will be used in the construction of the Nordsee Ost wind farm.
The newly constructed offshore-base port will see all components for the wind power plants being stored, pre-assembled and loaded for shipping. The actual construction of the wind farm will commence when the foundations are constructed at a water depth of 22mt to 25mt.
This will require weekly sailings of the installation ship carrying two foundation structures each trip. This will be followed by transport and installation of the actual wind turbines. With a length of 109mt and a width of 40mt, the construction ship is able to transport up to four turbines of the multi-megawatt type at the same time, before assembling them on site.
Apart from construction of the Nordsee Ost offshore wind farm, RWE Innogy is also currently planning construction of the wind power plant Innogy Nordsee 1, which will be built at a point 40km to the north of the island of Juist with an installed capacity of approximately 1,000MW.
Approval of this project is expected some time this year. Innogy Nordsee 1 will also commence electricity generation in part in 2015. Overall investment for this project measures around EUR2.8bn.
RWE Innogy is currently operating offshore wind farms in the UK and Belgium with a capacity of 158MW. A further 250MW is currently being constructed off the southern English coast.