The wind power sector is growing and Vattenfall is continually expanding its presence in the booming industry. Wind power is one of the areas where the company intends to increase its investments in the years ahead. 15 June is Global Wind Day, a good opportunity to look at the importance of wind power throughout the Vattenfall Group.
From 2012-2016, Vattenfall will invest another EUR 4.2 billion to improve and expand the wind power portfolio in Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark and the UK.
Vattenfall generates wind power from roughly 900 turbines. The largest onshore installations are Stor-Rotliden (Sweden), Edinbane (UK) and Nørrekær Enge (Denmark). When it comes to offshore wind power, Vattenfall is the world’s second largest player. The largest offshore farms are Thanet (UK), Horns Rev (Denmark), and Lillgrund (Sweden).
2012 has been a successful year for Vattenfall’s wind power so far with many projects in different phases of development. Besides that, permission has been granted to construct new wind farms in Germany, Denmark, Sweden, the UK and the Netherlands.
During the last year Vattenfall generated 3,8 TWh wind power, the same as the annual consumption of 1 million households (calculated on an average household consumption of 5.000 kWh/year).
Work continues on various projects to expand Vattenfall’s wind power capability.
Ormonde (UK): This offshore wind farm in the Irish Sea was built last year. It consists of 30 wind turbines with a total capacity of 150 MW, equivalent to the total annual electricity needs of more than 100,000 UK households. This wind farm will be officially inaugurated in autumn 2012.
Zuidlob (the Netherlands): This onshore wind farm is currently being built and will consist of 36 turbines, each about 3 MW, which can provide approximately 75,000 households with electricity. Zuidlob is planned to go into commission in 2013.
DanTysk (Germany): Another offshore wind farm 69 km west of the island Sylt that is under construction. The wind farm will have 80 turbines, a capacity of 288 MW, which is enough to supply approximately 400,000 homes with electricity. The project is a joint venture between Vattenfall and Stadtwerke München.
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Offshore WIND staff, June 15, 2012; Image: Vattenfall