Iberdrola and the port of Sassnitz in Germany have signed a lease agreement for the new operations and maintenance building that will serve the 476MW Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm.
The company also announced that on 1 September it will submit a bid for the construction of Windanker, a new offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea.
The plan is to expand the Baltic Hub – currently the 350MW Wikinger project in operation since 2017 and the under construction Baltic Eagle – to more than 1GW by 2026.
Iberdrola Renovables Deutschland managing director Iris Stempfle (pictured, left) said: “As a global leader in the generation of wind energy, we are also taking responsibility for shaping the German energy transition in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
“With today’s agreement and our participation in the auction for the construction of the Windanker offshore wind farm, we are committed to regional value creation and to our target of 1.1GW by 2026.”
In order for this to succeed smoothly, Stempfle said, the next state government will have to designate more areas for the expansion of renewable energy at sea and on land and simplify planning procedures.
The market design should also change in cooperation with the industry in order to ensure reliable energy prices for the end consumer and stable framework conditions for companies by reducing risks, the company said.
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania State Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (pictured, right) said: “We in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern want the energy transition in Germany to succeed. To achieve this, we need more wind farms at sea that produce large amounts of electricity.
“Iberdrola is already present off our coast with the Wikinger wind farm. In the next few years, a second large project will be added with Baltic Eagle.
“I am very pleased that planning, operation and maintenance will again be carried out from the port of Mukran.
“This creates jobs on the island of Rügen and is an important contribution to the energy transition in Germany.”