European power giant E.ON (EON.L) has placed an order with Siemens Energy a division of Siemens AG (NYSE: SI) for the supply of 90 wind turbines for the Rødsand II offshore wind farm south of the Danish island of Lolland in the Baltic Sea.
With an installed capacity of 207 megawatts (MW) the new project will be one the largest offshore wind farms in the world. The 90 turbines with a rotor diameter of 93 meters and a capacity of 2.3 MW each will be installed in 2010. The order includes a two-year service contract and is worth roughly EUR275 million.
The new project will be located 3 kilometers to the west from the existing Rødsand I offshore wind farm, which was connected to the power grid in 2003. The Rødsand I wind farm is equipped with 72 Siemens 2.3-MW wind turbines and is jointly operated by E.ON and the Danish company DONG Energy. To date the Rødsand I project, which also referred to as the Nysted wind farm, is the largest installed Danish offshore wind farm with a total capacity of 165.6 MW.
The new Rødsand II wind farm will also feature Siemens 2.3-MW wind turbines. Once completed the Rødsand II offshore farm will save the emission of around 700,000 tons of C02 per year.
"With roughly 1,800 MW of offshore wind power capacity either installed or on order, Siemens is the number one supplier of offshore wind turbines", said René Umlauft, CEO of the Siemens Renewable Energy Division.
Cord Landsmann, CFO of E.ON Climate & Renewables said "We are building on the offshore experience of Rødsand I, it is a successful model which we will replicate in the construction of Rødsand II."
Independent of this contract, Siemens Energy and E.ON recently announced the signing of a large framework agreement for the supply of 500 wind turbines. The machines with a total capacity of 1150 MW will be installed in onshore projects in Europe and in the U.S. in 2010 and 2011.