EnBW Baltic 2 officially put into operation
Karlsruhe/Stralsund. In the presence of the Minister President of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Erwin Sellering, and numerous guests from the worlds of business and politics, EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG has officially put its second offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea into operation. Following a construction period of around two years, EnBW Baltic 2 with its 80 wind turbines will now generate electricity for around 340,000 households per year.
In his welcoming address, EnBW CEO Frank Mastiaux emphasised: “We want to expand renewable energies to make them one of the main pillars of our business. The commissioning of EnBW Baltic 2 is another milestone in the implementation of our EnBW 2020 strategy. And is further evidence that the remodelling of the energy supply system towards decentralisation and renewable energies is irreversible, not only in Germany but also around the world. A strong EnBW team in Hamburg and Baden-Württemberg have made this success possible together with our partners. We will build on this success in the next few years when we begin work on further offshore wind farm projects. Our project pipeline currently includes three other offshore wind farms in the North Sea with a total output of 1,600 megawatts.”
Erwin Sellering, Minister President of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, explained: “The expansion of onshore wind energy is crucially important for the major national challenge of the German Energiewende because wind turbines at sea are almost capable of delivering baseload power and continue to generate electricity when the wind conditions everywhere else are calm. The commissioning of Baltic 2, the second wind farm off the German Baltic Sea coast, is therefore a very important event for us in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and for Germany as a whole.”
“By connecting up what is now our second offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea to the network, we are demonstrating, together with our partner EnBW the wind farm operator, that the development of offshore power works. As we have learned over the past few years, this presents an enormous technological and logistical challenge. The fact that 42 percent of electricity consumption in the grid area operated by 50Hertz in 2014 was accounted for by renewable energies demonstrates that we are on good course for successfully implementing the Energiewende here in the region. This also includes the connection of the offshore wind farms to the transmission grid to an increasing extent. The task now is to push further ahead with the expansion of the grids across Germany so that the electricity from the north and east of Germany can be transported to the centres of consumption in the south and west,” said Boris Schucht, Chief Executive Officer of 50Hertz.
“We now find ourselves at the beginning of the second phase of expansion for offshore wind energy. The Baltic 2 wind farm is four times as big and generates six times as much electricity as its predecessor. This demonstrates the opportunities offered by the industrialisation of offshore wind energy. We must take advantage of them,” emphasised Uwe Beckmeyer, MdB, Parliamentary Secretary of State at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.
Silke Krebs, Minister in the State Ministry of Baden-Württemberg, pointed out: “We are fully seaworthy, at least when it comes to wind power plants. This has been shown by the commissioning of Baltic 2 and we are delighted that EnBW, Baden-Württemberg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern have together made a great step forward towards the implementation of the Energiewende.”
EnBW Baltic 2 is located 32 kilometres to the north of the island of Rügen. 80 wind turbines with a total output of 288 megawatts have been installed over an area of 27 square kilometres. The offshore wind farm will generate 1.2 billion kilowatt hours of electricity per year and cover the aggregate requirements of 340,000 households while saving 900,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2).
The 80 Siemens SWT-3.6-120 wind turbines rise 138 metres above the surface of the water. Depending on the depth of the water, they have been erected on different foundations: Monopiles have been used for water depths of up to 35 metres, while three-legged jackets have been utilised at depths of over 35 metres. The substation forms the heart of EnBW Baltic 2. The electricity from the individual wind turbines flows into the substation where it is transformed to a higher voltage and transported to the mainland to be fed into the integrated German electricity network. The yellow substation is 15 metres high, 25 metres long and weighs a total of 4,500 tonnes including the foundations. More than 83 kilometres of undersea cables connect the individual wind turbines to the substation.