Iberdrola installs the first wind turbine in the Wikinger offshore wind farm (Germany)

Iberdrola has successfully installed the first of the 70 wind turbines of the Wikinger offshore wind farm, a renewable energy infrastructure that the company has developed in the German waters of the Baltic Sea.

With the installation of the first wind turbine, Iberdrola has reached a new and significant milestone in the development of this infrastructure, after completing the installation of the jackets or executing the foundations of the offshore substation and interior wiring of the wind farm to connect the wind turbines to the substation.

The company has met the deadlines set forth for the first construction phase of the Wikinger project. To do so, it has overcome the problems associated with these projects, working under extreme environmental conditions, which have been particularly harsh during the Polar cold wave that struck the Baltic region in January.

Wikinger, with an investment of almost €1,400M, will be capable of generating up to 350 megawatts (MW) of clean energy, which are equivalent to the consumption of 350,000 German homes, representing over 20% of the demand for energy of the state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, the region where the wind farm is located.

This facility faces the Northeast coast of the German island of Rügen and it will be the company’s second offshore wind farm, following the commissioning of the West of Duddon Sands wind farm in the Irish Sea in 2014.

Wikinger is having an important pull effect in the different areas in which the project is being carried out, with approximately 2,000 jobs created for the construction works at the port of Mukran and at the factories where all of the components are being manufactured, both in Germany and Spain.

The AD-5000 – 135 turbines are manufactured as state-of-the-art structures by Adwen (Gamesa Group) in the Bremerhaven and Stade manufacturing plants (Germany) and have a 5 MW unit power.

These are the wind turbines with the highest power rating and largest dimensions that the company has installed in its entire history. They are made up of a 222-ton nacelle, a rotor with a 135 metre (m) diameter and blades with a 77.5 metre length, as well as a 75-metre high tower.

Image: Wikinger Offshore Windfarm (Photo: Iberdrola)