Next big offshore plant in Denmark -- E.ON picks Siemens

Germany's E.ON, owner of Denmark's Rødsand II offshore wind farm project to be built in the Baltic Sea between Germany and Denmark, has selected Siemens as turbine supplier. Siemens, from its wind division in Denmark, will deliver 90 of its 2.3 MW turbine design, the same model that has been turning at the 165.6 MW Rødsand I wind farm for the past five years. Siemens is also supplying 91 of the 2.3 MW turbine to the Horns Rev II project in the Danish North Sea, which is under construction. Here they will turn alongside the Vestas turbines that make up Horns Rev I.

The Rødsand II order for 207 MW, one of the largest yet placed for an offshore project anywhere, increases the distance that Siemens is putting between itself and Vestas as the leading supplier of offshore technology. To date, Siemens has avoided most of the technical problems that have plagued Vestas' turbines, in particular its 3 MW model. After gearbox problems, Vestas took the offshore version of the 3 MW turbine off the market for an extended period before returning it to the sales list in May this year.

In round figures, Siemens says it has 1800 MW of offshore turbines either in operation or on order, split more or less evenly between its 2.3 MW and 3.6 MW designs, says the company's Martin Olesen. The choice of the 2.3 MW unit for Rødsand II means the appearance of the wind farm will closely resemble that of Rødsand I. The visual impact of the wind farm, particularly with regard to the height of the turbines, has been a discussion point locally.

The new plant will be built three kilometres west of the existing 72 turbines off the Danish town of Nysted. The total project price for Rødsand II, EUR 275 million, includes a two year service agreement.