EnBW Hohe See and Albatros offshore wind farms

Stuttgart/Eemshaven. Construction of the EnBW Hohe See and Albatros offshore wind farms is continuing with the help of two new special ships. The “Innovation” sailed from Eemshaven in Holland yesterday carrying three foundation components (monopiles) – steel pipes with a length of around 72 metres. After a journey lasting ten hours, the Innovation is installing the foundations in the seabed at the construction site for EnBW Hohe See.

The ship “Sea Installer” will also start work in the next time. It will transport the transition pieces from Rotterdam to the construction field where it will install them onto the monopiles. The first wind turbines are due to be erected in April. Siemens Gamesa has been commissioned to supply and install 87 wind turbines of type SWT-7.0-154 including the foundations. The ship “Pacific Osprey” already installed 63 of the total of 87 foundations last year.

Both wind farms with a combined output of 609 megawatts will be placed into operation by the end of 2019 as planned. They can generate enough electricity per year to supply on aggregate all of the private households in Munich. At peak times, there are more than 500 employees working at this large construction site in the middle of the sea, while 40 ships are involved in the construction work. This major project is being coordinated by the offshore branch of EnBW in Hamburg. The Canadian energy infrastructure company Enbridge Inc. has acquired 49.9 percent of the shares in both wind farms. EnBW has retained the remaining 50.1 percent in both cases.