May 25 2009
Airtricity, the renewable energy division of Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE), signed an agreement with Siemens Energy for the delivery of 80 wind turbines for the Butendiek offshore wind farm in the German North Sea. The offshore project, with a capacity of 288 megawatts (MW), shall be commissioned in 2012.
“We are happy to continue the good offshore supply relationship with Siemens based on the delivery of 140 3.6-MW wind turbines for the Greater Gabbard project where construction is ongoing,” says Airtricity CEO Paul Dowling.
Andreas Nauen, CEO of Siemens Wind Power: “This agreement shows that the German offshore market is moving from the demonstration phase to rolling out commercial projects. With more than 90 turbines already installed offshore, the Siemens 3.6-MW wind turbine has a proven track-record for the harsh environment in the North Sea.”
The Butendiek project is located 34 kilometers off the island of Sylt at a water depth of 20 meters. “The Butendiek project enjoys one of the best conditions among the German offshore projects,” says Martin Huss, Project Director and General Manager at Butendiek Offshore Windpark GmbH & Co. KG., the project company for the offshore wind farm. Airtricity acquired the Butendiek project from the community founded developer OSB Butendiek in 2007.
Germany offers favorable framework conditions for the installation and operation of offshore wind farms. The German government has set a target of 25,000 MW offshore wind power in the year 2030. The Butendiek wind farm will receive a feed-in-tariff of 15 Eurocents per kWh, and the transmission system operator is obliged to connect the wind farm to the grid on time.
With an installed offshore capacity of more than 600 MW and an order backlog totaling more than 3,300 MW, Siemens is the leading supplier of wind turbines for offshore applications.
Wind power is an important part of Siemens’ environmental portfolio. In 2008, revenue from the products and solutions in the Siemens’ environmental portfolio was nearly EUR19 billion, which is equivalent to approximately a quarter of Siemens’ total revenue.