E.ON has confirmed that the installation of the foundations for the Arkona offshore wind farm, situated in the German Baltic Sea, will commence in 2017 as planned.
The construction site, with an area of 39 square kilometers, is now completely free of remains from the time of the Cold War, as well as World Wars I and II, the developer says.
The explosive ordnance disposal, which took four months to complete, started with an examination of the seabed, where cameras and sonar identified more than 400 suspicious objects in depths of up to 37 meters. Underwater robots then explored the potentially unexploded ordnances; 43 were confirmed as unexploded ordnances.
E.ON. explains that these objects were not highly explosive; therefore, they were ready for transport. They were then recovered securely by specialist firms and handed over to the authorities in the port of Mukran in Sassnitz.
The project was carried out without incidents and within schedule and budget, the company notes. Arkona is a joint venture of E.ON with Norwegian energy company Statoil.
The project is located 35 kilometers northeast of the island of Rugen. The wind farm will generate 385 MW of power, which equates to supplying 400,000 households with renewable energy. The project comprises 60 6 GW Siemens turbines built on monopile foundations in water depths of 23-37 meters.
