German Chancellor Angela Merkel has officially opened the 385MW Arkona wind farm at a ceremony in Mukran on the island of Rugen.
Norwegian petroleum and energy minister Kjell-Borge Freiberg (pictured centre) was also on hand to christen the project, which is located in the German Baltic Sea around 35 kilometres northeast of Rugen.
The ceremony was also attended by Johannes Teyssen (far right) and Jon Erik Reinhardsen (far left), the respective chief executive and chairman of joint project owners Eon and Equinor.
The first of Arkona’s 60 Siemens Gamesa 6.45MW turbines was installed last July and first power was delivered in September.
Siemens Gamesa carried out construction works, including the installation and commissioning of the 60 SWT-6.0-154 direct drive offshore wind turbines, in record time.
The turbine installation occurred over five months on monopile foundations at water depths between 23 and 37 metres.
Siemens Gamesa installed each turbine within a 24 hour period, a concept it has developed to trim installation times through efficient project management.
Two days after completion of the installation work, all the wind turbines were fully operational, said Siemens Gamesa.
Van Oord was awarded the contract for the transport and installation of Arkona’s 60 monopiles and transition pieces in 2016.
Heavy-lift installation vessel Svanen completed these works on time in 2018.
The project has the capacity to supply renewable energy to 400,000 German homes.
Chantiers de l’Atlantique (CdA) designed, built, installed and commissioned the Arkona’s offshore substation, the largest electrical substation ever built in a single module.
Weighing more than 4000 tonnes and with a capacity of 385MW, the substation is able to transfer the electricity produced by Arkona’s turbines.
The structure consists of a topside 50 metres long, 35 metres wide and 15 metres high, built by CdA in Saint-Nazaire.
Ordered in June 2015 it was transported in February 2018 by barge to the installation location in the Baltic Sea.
The fully automated substation is designed to be able to manage the wind farm autonomously, without human intervention.
CdA also provided the 53 metre-high jacket foundation.
The substation was delivered ahead of schedule and commissioned and to the customer in the summer of 2018.
The CdA team applied the processes and technologies learned through building large complex ships to design the offshore substation, achieving weight savings of around 20% on the metal structure, reducing construction costs.