Windreich to break ground on 400-MW offshore wind farm in Germany

Aug 6, 2012 - German wind farm developer Windreich AG on Friday said it would commence construction of its 400-MW Global Tech I offshore wind farm in the German North Sea on schedule in the next few days.

The wind farm will include 80 turbines of 5 MW each from French nuclear engineering group Areva (EPA:AREVA). Windreich will use the floating and self-installing substation of French heavy engineering group Alstom (EPA:ALO) during the construction. The installation of the internal farm cabling will begin in the autumn, while full completion is seen by the end of 2013.

When operational, Global Tech 1 will produce enough power to supply one million people. Windreich expects 98% availability factor of the wind farm, based on its experience with the two-year operation of the Alpha Ventus test wind farm.

Global Tech 1 has received EUR 1.05 billion (USD 847m) in financing from 16 banks, including the European Investment Bank and German state development bank Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau (KfW), Windreich added.

(EUR 1 = USD 0.807)

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