• First German offshore wind farm is thus completed
• Experience from previous projects made it possible to erect a turbine in about one day

Hamburg, 16 November 2009. Today in the early morning, REpower Systems AG (WKN 617703) erected the last of a total of six REpower 5M wind turbines for the alpha ventus offshore test field. This means that the goal of the companies involved to complete the wind farm this year has been achieved. Alpha ventus is located 45 kilometers north of the island of Borkum and was built by a consortium of companies including EWE, E.ON, and Vattenfall.

It took only a few windy autumn weeks to erect the six REpower wind turbines, each with a rated output of 5 megawatts (MW) and a height of 155 meters from sea level to the tip of the turbine blade. "Despite the partly adverse weather conditions of the last few weeks, this turbine construction project went quickly and smoothly – due to the experience that we gained from similar wind turbine construction projects, such as the Thornton Bank offshore wind farm," emphasizes Norbert Giese, Director of Offshore Projects at REpower Systems AG.
Unlike the construction of the Belgian offshore wind farm Thornton Bank, REpower worked with a larger transport jack-up barge this time so that one complete turbine – made up of rotor star, nacelle, and two tower components – could be shipped to the location at a time. Moreover, the wind, wave, and tide time windows were much better exploited thanks to an improved installation device. "Due to the outstanding cooperation between all the people involved in the project, we were able to erect one turbine in almost a day," explains Giese. And he continues: "Under favorable conditions, we are confident that the first REpower turbines of this offshore wind farm will be supplying power to the grid before the end of this year."
In the meantime, REpower has successfully built 23 REpower 5M wind turbines, 14 of those are located in the open sea at water depths of up to 45 meters. Such successful projects are enabling the company to further expand its position as a market leader in the multi-megawatt offshore turbine sector for turbines far from shore and in deep water. Each of the six turbines constructed at alpha ventus is slated to supply the electricity grid with around 18 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of power per year. All in all, this wind farm will be able to supply about 50,000 homes with electricity annually.

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