We can look back on many years of experience in the area of wind energy; today we are actively shaping the Energiewende through our wind farms. We want to increase the proportion of our generation portfolio accounted for by renewable energies to over 40 percent by 2020. Wind power plays a decisive role in this context.
Offshore wind energy
We became one of the pioneers of wind energy at sea (offshore) through our wind farm EnBW Baltic 1 – the first commercial offshore wind farm in Germany in the Baltic Sea. It was then followed by EnBW Baltic 2. We thus have 330 megawatts of installed output in the Baltic Sea and are on course for further growth in the North Sea: the joint project involving EnBW Hohe See and Albatros has been connected to the grid and will provide around 609 megawatts of clean electricity. And the construction of our third North Sea wind farm – EnBW He Dreiht – is due to start in 2023.
Onshore wind farms
When it comes to wind farms on land (onshore), we have been concentrating so far on high-yield sites across the whole of Germany and currently operate wind turbines with a capacity of around 500 MW here. To supplement our core market of Germany, we are now expanding our onshore wind energy activities into France and Sweden via our subsidiaries “VALECO” and “EnBW Sverige AB” respectively. We aim to increase the installed output in Germany and selected foreign markets to around 2,500 MW by 2025.
Partnerships
We specialise in all facets of wind energy technology and cover the entire value added chain from securing the sites through to the planning, construction and operation of the power plants, as well as direct marketing of the energy. EnBW has also been active in the maintenance and servicing sector since 2016 as an important player in the area of onshore wind power: We have further expanded our position as a strong player in the Renewable Energies segment with the acquisition of the manufacturer-independent service provider Connected Wind Services A/S (CWS).
Our projects and our rate of expansion would not be possible without partnerships and cooperation with third parties: We offer investors, as well as local authorities and their citizens, the opportunity to participate in our projects and thus benefit from the growth of renewable energies. We use the participation models ourselves to generate new financial headroom for the implementation of the next wind energy projects.
Our wind catchers
You can read here in our employee statements about how varied wind power is at EnBW and what motivates and inspires our employees during their activities.
“I have been responsible at EnBW for the operation of our wind power plants in Baden-Württemberg since 2001. The expansion of wind power is a subject very close to my heart”, says Jana Hartwig, Project Manager for Onshore Wind.
“We achieved pioneering work with EnBW Baltic 1. And my team and I are very proud of what we did”, says Andreas Schormann, Manager of Offshore Wind Turbines.
“Employees from half of Europe are pulling together across all borders, ready to jump in and help if there is a bottleneck and are therefore making the impossible possible”, says Tanja Tralau, Project Coordination Consultant for EnBW Baltic 1.
“Although we were only able to start erecting the wind farm later than planned due to the poor weather conditions, we still nevertheless completed the installation ahead of time”, says Willem Klomp, Building Construction Manager.
“Sometimes we really are entering uncharted territory in Germany with our projects. Although this is challenging, it makes the work incredibly interesting”, says Anne Fischer, Safety Manager.
“The new wind power plants with a hub height of 140 m mean we can now construct them in forests. This allows us to achieve wind yields that were only conceivable on the coast just a few years ago”, Stefan Lederer, Project Manager for Onshore Engineering.
“The pressure is only off once the wind power plant is placed into operation and it is possible to see whether my forecasts are confirmed”, says Michael Hubmann, Specialist for Yield and Site Analysis.