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BNetzA awards grid capacity for pilot project

4C Offshore | Tom Russell
By: Tom Russell 23/02/2017 4C Offshore
Germany's Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur, or BNetzA) has awarded British Wind Energy GmbH 16.8MW grid connection capacity through its call for innovative pilot offshore wind energy installations.

British Wind Energy GmbH is currently developing the Deutsche Bucht offshore wind farm in the German Economic Exclusive Zone of the North Sea and intends to include an extra two wind turbines, with a capacity up to 8.4MW each, within the wind farm to test new and innovative technology. The Deutsche Bucht project is located in the German Bight, approximately 92km from shore and is expected to have a rated power of 252MW once completed, subject to financial close which is anticipated for the first quarter of 2017.

BNetzA did not disclose what innovative technology the two turbines will be testing however it did confirm that they will connect through the NOR-6-2 offshore grid connection system.

Two more applicants applied for some of the 50MW capacity up for grabs however were unsuccessful.

BNetzA issued a notice on the 10th August 2016 requesting applications for pilot wind energy installations which would test innovative foundation and turbine technologies.

It is suspected that the 50MW of pilot turbines was made available after Trianel returned 50MW of its awarded grid allocation capacity for the Trianel Windpark Borkum II project in July 2016.

Interested parties were required to submit proposals by the 31st October 2016 and will be enlisted to test innovative turbine or foundation components: applications seeking to test merely more powerful turbines are to be rejected.

BNetzA explained that technical innovations are essential and the design must stand out as “state of the art”. Although applications were accepted after the deadline, allocation will take place on a first-come first-served basis, requiring potential operators of pilot turbines to act quickly and file a corresponding request.

Once the award has taken place, the operator must submit a consent application to the regulatoy authority, BSH, for planning approval of the structures no later than 18 months following the capacity allocation.

It is anticipated that successful applicants will seek to commence construction around 2018-19 and access subsidies under the current Feed-in Tariff (FiT) model. Under the accelerated model, the pilot turbines must be generating power by the 1st January 2020, although subsidies will undergo a yearly degression of €10/MWh from the 1st January 2018.

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