GE Renewable Energy installs offshore wind turbine at Merkur Windfarm

GE Renewable Energy asserts the installation of the first GE Haliade TM 150-160MW offshore wind turbine at the 396MW Merkur Offshore WindFarm in Germany situated approximately 35km north of the island of Borkum, in the North Sea. Installation vessel SeaFox 5 sailed from Merkur’s logistic hub in Eemshaven (Netherlands) carrying blades, towers, nacelles and other components needed to start the installation of the first set of wind turbines at sea.

Installation of the 66 GE Haliade 150-6MW wind turbines is anticipated to finish around September 2018, while commissioning activities will continue until end of the year. In the meantime, remaining nacelles, blades and tower pieces will be shipped to Eemshaven logistic hub until mid-summer 2018, where local teams will perform pre-assembly works.

John Lavelle, VP & CEO of GE’s Renewable Energy Offshore Wind business, claimed “This is a very important milestone for us. Only a year and a half ago we were supporting the installation of the first offshore wind project in US (Block Island), and in a year we have completed installation in China and started installation of one of the largest offshore windfarms in Germany, making us the only offshore wind turbine supplier to have projects in Europe, Asia and the Americas.”

GE Renewable Energy was selected in June 2015 by Merkur Offshore Company to deliver 66 GE Haliade 150-6MW offshore wind turbines to what will become one of Germany’s largest offshore windfarms, capable to generate approximately 1,750 MWh annually, enough clean energy to power around 500,000 homes in the region. A 10-year Operation & Maintenance service is also included as part of the contract.