The first of the total of 60 wind turbines has been installed at the Arkona offshore wind farm, located off the coast of Rügen in the German Baltic Sea.
The turbine installation is being carried out by A2SEA’s (now GeoSea’s) installation vessel Sea Challenger, with the project team preparing the turbines for power generation immediately after each of them is installed.
Meanwhile, the project’s substation is being commissioned and works on the connection to the mainland are being completed.
The project remains ahead of schedule, following early completion of installation of monopiles and, subsequently, transition pieces.
“The entire team has done a great job in recent months to start the turbine installation ahead of schedule. We are confident that we will soon be producing clean and sustainable electricity with the first turbines,” said Holger Matthiesen , Project Director Arkona.
The commissioning of Arkona is scheduled for the beginning of 2019 at the latest.
The 385MW offshore wind farm will comprise 60 Siemens Gamesa 6MW wind turbines and is expected to supply around 400,000 households with renewable energy, once operational.
Arkona is a joint venture between E.ON and the Norwegian energy company Equinor, formerly known as Statoil.