RWE’s 342MW offshore wind farm Kaskasi officially commenced regular operation in the presence of Robert Habeck, German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.
The 38 wind turbines of Kaskasi were successively commissioned over four months.
Since the end of 2022, all turbines have been feeding green electricity into the grid and following completion of testing, the wind farm is now commencing regular operation.
The approval procedure for the wind farm started in spring 2019 and construction was greenlit by the German Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie) at the end of 2020.
The total offshore construction time was nine months, while the investment costs for Kaskasi amounted to around €800m.
More than 100 people at RWE alone worked on the project along with the staff from over 70 suppliers.
Habeck said: “Offshore wind is a key driver of the energy transition.
“Offshore wind turbines can produce more electricity during more hours per year than onshore turbines.
“We have thus increased the expansion targets in the German Offshore Wind Energy Act considerably, to at least 30GW by 2030.
“In addition, we have made significant improvements to the legal framework and took action to speed up approval procedures.
“With the area development plan, we have put the foundation in place for planning the expansion of offshore wind energy in Germany.”
Markus Krebber, CEO of RWE, added: “Our Kaskasi offshore wind farm was the only that was constructed and connected to the grid in Germany last year.
“Many more must follow over the coming years for Germany to reach its climate targets.
“As one of the world’s leading companies in offshore wind, RWE can contribute considerably to achieving these goals.
“Together with our partner we have just selected the preferred turbine supplier for the next offshore wind cluster off the German coast.
“The cluster will have a total capacity of up to 1.6GW.
“And of course, we will also take part in the large German offshore auctions in summer this year.”
After Nordsee Ost (295MW) and Amrumbank West (302MW), Kaskasi is the third RWE wind farm that will be operated and maintained from the company’s service station on Heligoland.
Around 100 service technicians, engineers and control room staff ensure smooth operation of the three wind farms.