RWE Innogy, Stadtwerke München (the Munich Municipal Utility) and Siemens (NYSE: SI) have entered into a joint venture to build the offshore EUR 2 billion wind farm Gwynt y Môr (Welsh for “wind in the sea”).
RWE Innogy will hold a 60% stake in this joint venture, Stadtwerke München 30% and Siemens 10%. The investment will be divided between the partners accordingly.
Gwynt y Môr is to be built with an installed capacity of 576 megawatts (MW) in Liverpool Bay, around 18 kilometres off the North Wales coast. Work will start towards the end of 2011 to erect the first foundations for a total of 160 wind turbines.
All permits for the wind farm covering an area of 79 square kilometres have already been obtained. Siemens will supply, install and maintain the wind turbines, and provide the connection to the grid.
In its first phase of expansion, the wind farm is planned to generate
electricity as early as 2013. The project is expected to be completed in
2014. From then onwards it is forecast to generate around 1,950
gigawatt hours of electricity annually, enough to supply around 400,000
British households. The site is in a very favourable location: Liverpool
Bay in North Wales is characterised by comparatively shallow water and
very high wind speeds.
Siemens will supply and erect 160 3.6-MW wind turbines. Siemens will
also be responsible for connecting the wind turbines to the grid and
maintenance. The value of the contract for Siemens is around EUR 1.2 billion.
To build Gwynt y Môr, RWE Innogy has arranged for another offshore construction ship to be built by the Korean shipyard Daewoo. The first of these offshore construction ships, the largest in the world, was ordered by the company at the end of last year for the erection of the German offshore wind farm Nordsee Ost (North Sea East). The order value for each ship is around 100 million Euros. The new construction ship is expected at the end of 2011. The foundations and wind turbines are to be pre-assembled and then transported out to sea.
This will be RWE’s the fifth offshore wind farm. The company operates the North Hoyle (60 MW) and Rhyl Flats (90 MW) wind farms off the Welsh coast. Another major project, the offshore wind farm Atlantic Array with a planned installed capacity of 1,500 MW, is under development in the Bristol channel off the South Wales coast. RWE Innogy also is currently involved in the construction of the 500 MW wind farm Greater Gabbard off the south coast of England. The company also is developing Triton Knoll (1,200 MW).
RWE Innogy is pursuing offshore wind power off the coast of continental Europe as well. In the German North Sea, the company is planning to build the wind farm Nordsee Ost (North Sea East) (295 MW) in 2011 and is developing a further major project there, called Innogy Nordsee 1 (North Sea 1) (around 1,000 MW). In Belgium, RWE Innogy is the largest shareholder in the Thornton Bank wind farm, the first phase of which (30 MW) is already in commercial operation.
Dr. Kurt Mühlhäuser, Chairman of the Stadtwerke
München Board said the utility intends to generate enough green by
2015 to account for the demand produced by the 800,000 private
households in its service area. By 2025 the utility aims to cover the
whole demand for electricity in Munich–that would make Munich the first
city of a million inhabitants to achieve the goal. The utility plans to
invest around EUR 9 billion in green power.
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