Nordrhein-Westfalen Benefits from Offshore Wind, Says Minister Remmel (Germany)

Environment Minister Johannes Remmel visited ABB in Bad Honnef on his tour called “Future Energies NRW: Places of the energy future”.

Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia; NRW) benefited from the expansion of the offshore wind energy. According to the PricewaterhouseCoopers study “Full power from offshore wind”, North Rhine-Westphalia gains 23 percent of the industry’s turnover by investing the most in offshore expansion in compared to other states. The study says that NRW accounts for 18 percent in Germany directly arising from offshore work – including more than 2,500 employees in the labor-intensive production of components.

On the sixth stop of his Future Energies tour, NRW Environment Minister Johannes Remmel visited the ABB transformer factory in Bad Honnef with a delegation of the EnergieAgentur.NRW. The transformers are used in offshore wind farms connection. “NRW is not only an excellent location for wind turbines, but also a powerful center for the production of components that are essential for the use of renewable sources. We have not only environmental, but also economic competence for the implementation of the energy transition, made ​​in NRW,” said Remmel.

ABB’s power transformers, produced in Bad Honnef, are found worldwide in the power transmission and industrial applications use. The up to 800-ton transformers are used to transform electrical energy at high voltage levels. Above all, ABB produces special phase-shifting transformers for active power flow control. This means that the electricity can be transported efficiently over long distances.

‘Focused Factory’ in Bad Honnef is the world’s only ABB factory that manufactures the phase-shifting transformers and large industrial transformers with currents up to 100,000 amps. It produces around 50 of these transformers – most are unique and tailored specifically to the needs of the customer.

“ABB is an important pillar for the performance of the North Rhine-Westphalia location. The company is an example of the positive effect of integration of production on the one hand and research and development on the other. This is one of the strengths of our state in the renewable energy and energy efficiency, which is reflected in the implementation of the cluster policy,” says Dr. Frank-Michael Baumann from EnergieAgentur.NRW.

Bad Honnef is the sixth station of the Minister Remmel’s tour. As a part of the initiative “Future Energy NRW: Places of the energy future,” the Minister visited 60 selected places where future energy is successfully used or tested.

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Offshore WIND Staff, February 25, 2013; Image: energieagentur