Spanish renewable energy giant Iberdrola has awarded the final key contract for the construction of its Baltic Eagle wind farm in Germany.
The contract is for the construction of offshore foundations, and the winners of the order are EEW SPC and Windar.
German company EEW SPC will deliver 50 monopiles while Spanish company Windar will fabricate the same number of transition pieces, which links the turbine towers to the foundations.
The monopiles will be fabricated at EEW's factory in Rostock, located by the Baltic Sea. Grouped into deep and shallow clusters, the monopiles will be between 9m and 8.75m in diameter and their range in length will vary from 75 to 90 meters, depending on the water depth for each wind turbine position.
The heaviest monopile will weigh 1,402 tonnes and EEW SPC will be processing about 64,600 tonnes of steel for this order, starting in January 2022 and running through to January 2023. The load-out will begin in April 2023 and the installation campaign is scheduled to last about six weeks.
The main construction activities for the transition pieces will be carried out in Windar´s shipyard located in Avilés. This manufacturing process will involve some 30 Windar suppliers in the North of Spain, including steel production, components, equipment, testing and auxiliary machinery companies. The contract will create 800 jobs and 1.3 million man-hours, Iberdrola said. Fabrication works will begin in October 2021 and will run through to December 2022, with load out planned for the beginning of 2023.
Iris Stempfle, Country Manager for Iberdrola in Germany, said: “The manufacturing phase of Baltic Eagle will involve multinational companies with facilities in five European countries, including Germany, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium. We are very pleased that Iberdrola's investments are making an important contribution to Europe's green recovery.
"In addition to a remarkable job creation during construction, we plan to increase staff at our O&M base in the port of Sassnitz-Mukran, in the island of Rügen, to serve Iberdrola's Baltic Sea Hub while fostering the share of local added value.”
With a production capacity of 476 MW, the Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm will supply electricity to 475,000 households. It is scheduled to be fully operational by the end of 2024.
Two weeks ago, offshore wind turbine manufacturer Vestas said it had finalized the turbine supply deal with for the Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm in Germany.
Vestas will deliver V174-9.5 MW turbines to the Baltic Eagle project, which will span a 40 km2 area in the Baltic Sea, 75 km off the German coast.
Baltic Eagle is Vestas’ fourth offshore project in Germany, adding to the Borkum Riffgrund 2 and Deutsche Bucht projects delivered by the joint venture MHI Vestas Offshore Wind Vestas said.
Apart from the delivery of the turbines for the project, Vestas will also service the turbines over a period of up to 10 years. The company did not share the financial details of the deal.
The wind farm will comprise 50 wind turbines to be installed on monopile foundations and will cover an area of 40 km2.