Siemens has clinched an order to supply 80 wind turbines for the Dan Tysk wind farm off Germany’s North Sea coast. With a total capacity of 288 megawatts, the farm will begin supplying clean electricity to 500,000 German households in 2014. Dan Tysk Offshore Wind GmbH, in which Vattenfall Europe has a 51 percent stake and the Stadtwerke München a 49 percent stake, is the customer. “Siemens is No. 1 worldwide in the offshore wind business. This order will make us the leader in Germany, too,” said Wolfgang Dehen, member of Siemens’ Managing Board and CEO of the company’s Energy Sector. Siemens is also launching a completely new business in Germany: the maintenance of grid connections between the mainland and wind farms on the high seas. The company has received its first order from grid operator TenneT to provide services for the mainland connections of two North Sea wind farms. On the North Sea coast and in Hamburg, Germany, Siemens also wants to create up to 100 new jobs in the wind power business.
Siemens will maintain the power lines and transmission systems linking two TenneT wind farms, HelWin1 northwest of Helgoland and BorWin2 near the island of Borkum, to the mainland. The lines are between 85 and 125 kilometers long and can transport wind-generated power for two million German households. “By moving into the German market for servicing and maintaining offshore-to-mainland connections, we’re expanding our portfolio,” Dehen said. In addition, Siemens will establish a new dedicated service center on the coast of Lower Saxony. The company also plans to expand its European center of wind power competence in Hamburg.
Construction of the Dan Tysk wind farm, which will be located about 50 kilometers west of the island of Sylt, will begin in 2013 and is scheduled for completion by the spring of 2014. Siemens is contributing wind turbines, each with a capacity of 3.6 megawatts and a rotor diameter of 120 meters, as well as providing maintenance services.
