For the first time, Siemens Wind Power will be providing the full scope of work – including the foundations – for an offshore wind farm, the EnBW Hohe See project.
Hohe See owner EnBW has now made a final investment decision for its 497 MW offshore wind plant, which will be installed in the North Sea starting in early 2018. The project will be situated 90 kilometers north of the German island of Borkum in water depths up to 40 meters.
The 71 SWT-7.0-154 turbines, rated at 7 MW each, will be manufactured at Siemens’ new nacelle plant in Cuxhaven. Production will begin in mid-2018, and the turbines will be shipped to the project harbor in early 2019. The blades will be shipped from factories in Hull, the U.K., and Aalborg, Denmark.
Commissioning is planned for the third quarter of 2019. The project will generate enough power to supply 560,000 households with power, says Siemens.
Last year, Siemens began developing project-specific solutions for the foundations of the wind farm. The company came up with a large monopile design with a length of up to 80 meters and a weight of up to 1,500 tons to anchor the turbines.
For EnBW Hohe See, Siemens is partnering with logistics specialist GeoSea, which will also deliver foundations, including monopiles and transition pieces.
Siemens notes that it has helped mitigate risk exposure to investors; the integrated design and installation approach provides investors with more security regarding the financing and completion of the project.
“We are happy to apply our full scope of engineering services at the EnBW Hohe See offshore wind project,” states Michael Hannibal, CEO of offshore at Siemens Wind Power. “The extended scope makes this 497 MW wind power plant one of the largest projects that we have ever executed.”
After commissioning the project, Siemens will perform service and maintenance for a period of at least five years. Grid connection will be established via the BorWin 3 high-voltage DC link and the BorWin Gamma converter platform, to be installed by Siemens for grid operator Tennet.
