Scottish Power Renewables, which leads Iberdrola’s global offshore wind projects, has started construction work on the 350 megawatt Wikinger offshore wind turbine farm in the Baltic Sea.
Located about 50 miles from mainland Germany, the €1.4 billion renewable energy project will produce enough power for 350,000 households.
The start of construction was marked by a formal ceremony, attended by Christian Pegel, Minister for Energy, Infrastructure and Regional Development from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
This followed an intensive 16 month period of component fabrication to allow for the wind turbine foundations and piles to begin installation using the specialist ‘Giant 7’ vessel that will be mobilised from Rostock.
Turbine manufacturing is also underway at Adwen’s facilities in Stade and Bremerhaven, preparing 70 devices, each generating 5 megawatts – the most powerful ever to be used on an Iberdrola project world-wide.
Pegel said: “This demonstrates two things: firstly, the energy revolution is in full swing and secondly, for Germany, this is creating tremendous value.
“Here at the Port of Sassnitz, Iberdrola has concluded an agreement for use of the facility for 25 years. In addition to securing revenue during this period, about 100 jobs will be supported and the port will provide additional services through support vessels for the windfarm.”
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