Vattenfall is planning to build an offshore wind farm off the island of Sylt in the North Sea, potentially providing half a million or more German households with electricity.
The project is initially for some 576 MW but it can be further expanded. Construction is planned to start in 2014. Vattenfall is investing SEK 26 billion in wind power between 2011 and 2015.
Vattenfall has recently purchased the licence for the new wind farm from the German company, Sandbank Power GmbH & Co. Permits are currently in place for 96 large wind turbines which will deliver an output of 576 megawatt (MW). The purchase includes the opportunity to expand the project with 40 turbines.
The area in question is located 90 kilometres west of the German island of Sylt – in the vicinity of Vattenfall’s already ongoing project, DanTysk, which it co-owns together with Munich’s municipal power utility. It will provide electricity for 300,000 Germans and is an investment of SEK 10 billion.
The new project is called Sandbank 24 and construction will commence when DanTysk is completed in early 2014. The two offshore wind farms will be operated from Vattenfall’s wind facilities in Denmark.
The purchase of Sandbank 24 is an element in Vattenfall’s strategy of developing environmentally sustainable electricity supply from renewable sources of energy in Germany as well.
“With Sandbank 24 Vattenfall is actively supporting the ongoing energy turnaround in Germany,” says Anders Dahl, Head of BU Renewables in Vattenfall and member of the Executive Group Management.
“We are convinced that offshore wind power will play an important role in Germany in the future and that this young industry will become successfully established in Germany as well,” he continues.
Apart from the German market, the UK is the largest wind investment area for Vattenfall, where the East Anglia project is the largest wind farm with a capacity of 7 200 MW. It is under development together with Scottish Power Renewables in the North Sea. Further more, Vattenfall is investing SEK 26 billion in wind power both at sea and on land between 2011 and 2015. Vattenfall is number one in Sweden and number two in the world in offshore wind power.
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Offshore WIND staff, November 25, 2011; Image: vattenfall