Germany: Two Ministers Visit Alpha Ventus

Together with top representatives of the energy companies EWE, E.ON and Vattenfall, Germany’s economics minister Dr. Philipp Rösler and Lower Saxony’s minister for the environment, Dr. Stefan Birkner, visited alpha ventus this Monday.

The flight to Germany’s first offshore farm located 45 km north of the island of Borkum allowed the ministers to gain their own impressions of progress achieved to date by Germany’s offshore wind power industry, which, according to German government plans, has a significant role to play in achieving the transformation of the German energy system (“Energiewende”).

Dr. Jörg Buddenberg, EWE representative in the alpha ventus consortium of EWE, E.ON and Vattenfall, welcomed the ministerial visit: “As a pilot project and to a certain extent the starting point for Germany’s offshore era, alpha ventus is doing pioneering work. Experience gained during construction and operations as well as knowledge from the research projects associated with alpha ventus are directional for the further expansion of the industry. This data provides the basis for the optimisation of technology, operations, logistics and the environmental compatibility of future wind farms in the open sea.” Furthermore, the first operational results of the pilot project demonstrate that offshore wind energy actually offers an enormous energy potential, as stated in the yield forecast: The very positive yield account that alpha ventus achieved in 2011, was followed by a high wind energy output during the first six months of 2012, exceeding the forecast by approximately 10 per cent. Dr. Buddenberg said the objective now is to reduce the high investment and operating costs of farshore wind farms in order to guarantee their economic viability and marketability over the long term.

One aspect touched on in talks during the visit was the slow and difficult extension of the national transmission grid to connect future offshore wind farms to the mainland. “As far as offshore investors such as the alpha ventus consortium of EWE, E.ON and Vattenfall are concerned, it is now of fundamental importance that a binding political framework is established quickly to ensure the timely connection of new offshore wind farms to the grid so as to move the industry’s further expansion forward. Our consortium is confident that the liability rules as proposed by the German legislative in conjunction with a long term offshore grid development plan represents the right approach to this issue. It is now necessary to introduce the legislative revisions speedily,” added Dr. Buddenberg.

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Offshore WIND staff, August 06, 2012; Image: alpha-ventus