DanTysk offshore wind power plant in the German North Sea was officially inaugurated on 30 April. Siemens has supplied, installed and commissioned 80 wind turbines for the 288 MW project, each rated at 3.6 MW and equipped with a 120m rotor. Completion of the site brings to over 1 GW (nameplate) the total of Siemens WTGs supplying Germany's power grid. The owner and operator of DanTysk wind park is a consortium comprising the Swedish power company Vattenfall and Stadtwerke München, Munich's municipal utility. The wind power plant can generate up to 1.3 billion kWh of electricity per year.
Around 300 wind turbines installed across eight projects contribute to the 1 GW milestone and the company has orders in hand for 700 additional wind turbines to be erected off Germany's North Sea and Baltic Sea coastlines which will add over 2.8 GW to the existing capacity. The industry association VDMA (German Engineering Association) expects that up to 2 GW more offshore wind power will come on line in 2015. Other experts in Germany envisage in total about 3 GW of installed capacity on the grid by the end of 2015. "Germany's energy transition is thus also taking shape far out to sea" commented Michael Hannibal, CEO of Siemens´ Wind Power and Renewables offshore division
DanTysk is located approximately 70 km west of the German island of Sylt. In waters measuring between 21 and 32 m deep, foundations anchored in the seabed provide the base on which the wind turbines were erected. The turnkey grid connection for Dan Tysk, SylWin1, is a DC offshore link run by the transmission grid operator TenneT. Overall, three offshore wind power plants will be connected to the grid via this offshore link.
With renewable energy today accounting for 23 % of power generation in Germany, it is the express aim of the German government to increase this share to 80% by 2050 and sees offshore wind farms as an essential component. Strong winds at sea can be harvested and power plants at sea are believed to be capable of drawing level with the electrical generating capacity of fossil-fuel power plants. According to the government's plans wind turbines delivering a total installed capacity of 6.5 GW are to be installed in German waters by 2020, with 8.5 GW more to be added by 2030.
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