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EnBW
has informed its supply chain that it will now move forward with the construction
of the Hohe
See offshore wind farm
following investment from Canadian energy infrastructure company Enbridge.
Enbridge has acquired 49.9 percent of the shares in EnBW
Hohe See, while EnBW
will retain the remaining 50.1 percent of the shares. According to the
participation model agreed between the companies, both partners will jointly
finance the implementation of the offshore wind farm from construction
through to commissioning.
Enbridge Inc. has taken on this
investment despite facing a number of set backs with its investment in
French project Fecamp (renamed
Eoliennes Offshore des Hautes Falaises offshore wind farm).
“We’re excited to join a partner of EnBW’s proven capabilities and leadership
in power generation on what will be a very meaningful project in the German
Energiewende,” said Enbridge President and CEO Al Monaco. “The
Hohe See project is
consistent with Enbridge’s strategy to increase our presence in the renewable
power business and it comes with an additional organic growth opportunity
within the European offshore wind market. We like this business, and this
project in particular, as it is supported by strong commercial underpinnings
and provides attractive returns that are consistent with our investor value
proposition.”
EnBW will control and monitor all activities during the further realisation
of the project. Enbridge will support the project with its own employees
who will be integrated into the EnBW project team. EnBW will be responsible
for the operation and maintenance of the finished wind farm based on a
service and management contract.
"With Enbridge at our side, we can realise our largest offshore wind
farm to date and at the same time generate financial scope through this
participation for the development of new projects. This is now the third
successful participation model with which we are sharing the risk and represents
another major step in the implementation of our EnBW 2020 strategy”,
according to EnBW CEO Frank Mastiaux. “With an investment volume of
around 1.8 billion euro, we have not only taken one of the largest investment
decisions in the history of our company but despite the currently difficult
economic conditions, we are continuing to rigorously invest in the implementation
of our strategy and through EnBW Hohe
See we are
developing another cornerstone for safeguarding the future of EnBW. Following
its commissioning in 2019, the wind farm will make a substantial contribution
to our Group operating result”, added Mastiaux.
Hohe
See offshore wind farm
will be constructed in the German Economic Exclusive Zone of the North
Sea around 90km north of Borkum and 100km northwest of Helgoland, covering
an area of 42km2. Following commissioning, slated for 2019,
it is anticipated to generate around two billion kilowatt hours of electricity
per year meeting the energy demands of around 560,000 German households.
The wind farm will be connected
to the German high voltage grid via the BorWin3
converter platform installed by
Siemens on behalf of grid operator TenneT.
EnBW has issued the notice to proceed to a number suppliers of the main
infrastructure work which were concluded at the beginning of 2016.
Siemens AG was selected as main supplier for the project as has been commissioned
to supply and install 71 of its SWT-7.0-154
turbines. The 7MW turbines will be manufactured at Siemens’ new nacelle
plant in Port
of Cuxhaven beginning
in mid-2018 and will be shipped to the project harbour in early 2019. The
blades will be shipped from factories in Hull,
UK, and from the
Port
of Aalborg, Denmark.
After the project's commissioning Siemens will perform service and maintenance
of the turbines for a period of five years.
Siemens was also selected to provided foundations for the German site.
For this it partnered DEME Group subsidiary, GeoSea, who is responsible
for the delivery and installation of the project's 71 monopile foundations,
each measuring 80m in length and weighing up to 1,500 tons, and transition
pieces.
VBMS GmbH secured an €80m inter-array
cabling contract which sees it responsible for the supply, installation
and burial as well as termination and testing of seventy nine (79) 33kV
inter-array cables. The project execution will commence in 2017 with cable
installation activities scheduled for 2018 and 2019.
A consortium consisting of ENGIE Fabricom, Iemants NV and CG Holdings Belgium
NV is responsible for the offshore substation.
Further to the Hohe
See project Enbridge
also has an option to participate in another EnBW project in the North
Sea, the Albatros
offshore wind farm.
EnBW stated that it plans to make the decision on whether to construct
the project in early 2017, which could be realised together with Hohe
See and thus offer
synergies during the erection and operational phases. Albatros
currently has a binding approval for grid connections of 116MW. This means
the project could be developed across multiple phases with initial
roll-out of 116MWW and moving towards around 610MW by 2019.
As stated earlier Enbridge Inc. foray into
European wind farms has not been without it problems. Last year it acquired
a 50% interest in Éolien Maritime France SAS (EMF), a French offshore wind
development company, for an investment of EUR 191m (GBP 151m). EMF is co-owned
with EDF Energies Nouvelles. EMF is developing three large-scale offshore
wind farms off the coast of France that would produce a combined 1,428
megawatts (MW) of power. The French projects are
However the 498MW
Eoliennes Offshore des Hautes Falaises offshore wind farm is
facing stiff opposition from a consortium of seven organisations trying
to stop the project going ahead in what they describe as "against
the absurdity of this mammoth project of 83 giant wind turbines".
One of the other French investments has also suffered from severe
opposition. Three environmental groups, Prosimar, GRSB and Aspen, filed
an appeal last year against the proposed Pac
du Banc de Guerande offshore wind farm
located off the seaside town of Saint Nazaire, France.
Enbridge is also one of three shareholders in Rampion
Offshore Wind Limited owning a
24.9 percent interest.
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