German power company E.ON organised a groundbreaking ceremony in Sassnitz on August 18 to signal that the 385MW Arkona offshore wind project in the Baltic Sea moved from the planning to the construction phase.
The project entered the construction phase with a ceremonial laying of a cornerstone for the wind farm’s O&M facility at the Mukran ferry port in Sassnitz, which will serve as the wind farm’s logistics base during the construction and subsequent operation.
Preparations for the offshore construction site are moving along as planned, E.ON said. The construction site is prepared, and the tracks for the cables connecting the turbines to the substation have been surveyed.
Progress is also being made on the connection to the grid on the mainland via three submarine cables supplied by the transmission system operator 50Hertz, with two kilometers of cables currently being laid daily.
At practically the same time that the groundbreaking ceremony was taking place, EEW Special Pipe Constructions was starting production of the steel foundations in Rostock.
Bladt Industries has been manufacturing the house-sized connecting elements since early August in Aalborg, Denmark. E.ON will begin installation of the large components at sea in 2017.
Arkona, also known as Arkona-Becken Südost, is located in the Baltic Sea, 35 kilometers northeast of Rügen Island. The wind farm will comprise 60 six-megawatt Siemens turbines, expected to be fully commissioned in 2019. The turbine towers will be mounted on monopile foundations installed at depths of 23 to 37 meters.
The EUR 1.2 billion wind farm is equally owned by E.ON and Norway’s Statoil. The project represents Statoil’s first investment into German offshore wind market.
E.ON is responsible for the construction and subsequent operation of the wind farm.