Kick-off for EnBW Baltic 1: EnBW lays the foundation stone of the first commercial offshore wind farm in the German Baltic Sea
Karlsruhe/Rostock. Together with the Minister President of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Erwin Sellering, and almost two hundred guests, EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG laid today in Rostock the foundation stone for the first commercial offshore wind farm in the German Baltic Sea: EnBW Baltic 1. The offshore wind farm is being built 16 kilometres north of the Darss/Zingst peninsula over an area of around seven square kilometres.
The 21 wind turbines will have a total output of around 50 megawatts and generate 185 gigawatt hours of electricity a year for around 50,000 households.
In his welcome speech, Chairman of the Board of Management at EnBW, Hans-Peter Villis, stressed: "Today is a good day: A good day for the energy industry, a good day for wind power and a good day for Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and EnBW. The use of wind power – in particular offshore – will play a major role in the energy mix of the future. We are still at the beginning of a development and we are certainly pioneers in the energy-industry. But we are happy to face this challenge, because we are convinced that expanding renewable energies, expanding offshore wind power and the construction of EnBW Baltic 1 is correct and important."
"Renewable energies are a giant market, which will continue to grow in the future. We want to profit from this in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern," emphasised Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's Minister President Erwin Sellering in his speech. "Our state is already in the lead when it comes to the use of renewable energies. 45% of our electricity comes from regenerative energy sources, two thirds of this from wind power. In addition, a wind power industry has become established in the state. We want to build on this. Offshore wind power plays a central role here. This is why Baltic 1 is so important for us."
"EnBW wind farm Baltic 1 is another contribution from EnBW to a climate-friendly and resource-saving energy generation in Germany. But our work is far from over here. We have set ourselves the target of generating around 20 percent of our energy mix from renewable energies by 2020. Offshore wind power is a significant component here. A few days ago, the Supervisory Board of EnBW therefore approved the first investments for the second EnBW offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea, EnBW Baltic 2. Overall, we are planning to build up output of almost 1,200 megawatts offshore. The total investment will then amount to around 3 billion Euro," according to Dr. Hans-Josef Zimmer, Chief Technology Officer of EnBW.
Wolfgang Bogenrieder, Managing Director of External electrical Infrastructure 50Hertz Offshore GmbH explained: "Work on the offshore wind farm and on the connection with the grid is coordinated. After 50Hertz started realising the connection with the grid for EnBW Baltic 1 back in summer 2009 and after completion of the wind farm on the high seas we will transfer the electricity, bring it the Bentwisch substation by undersea cable and then transport it to consumers in southern and south-western Germany. Consequently, as a transport network operator we are making our important contribution to climate protection in Germany and in Europe."