GERMAN DEEPWATER WIND SPINNING

Germany’s First Deepwater Wind Farm Starts Production
Jeremy van Loon (w/Randall Hackley and Todd White), April 27, 2010 (Bloomberg BusinessWeek)

"Germany, the country that pioneered the use of windmills for commercial power production, connected its first deepwater offshore wind farm… as developers begin plans to install thousands of turbines in the North Sea.

"E.ON AG, Vattenfall Europe AG and the German utility EWE AG invested 250 million euros ($333 million) to erect 12 turbines 45 kilometers (28 miles) off the German coast…"

A field of 5 megawatt turbines. (click to enlarge)

"Germany aims to install 25,000 megawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2030…That’s about the same amount of electricity the country already generates from onshore windmills, or the equivalent of about 7.5 percent of Germany’s power production."

5 megawatts is enough power for 1200 homes. (click to enlarge)

"The German Alpha Ventus wind farm is powered by Repower Systems AG and Areva SA 5-megawatt turbines with the towers planted on the seabed 30 meters (98 feet) below the water. The project will be expanded in coming years…

"Germany has the most installed wind capacity in Europe…Investments in offshore wind may grow as much as 71 percent this year to about 1,000 megawatts…The U.K. leads the world in installed offshore wind capacity."