NGlobal Magazin 01-2010

Niedersachsen Global www.nglobal.de Energy 27 Photo: Matthias Ibeler, DOTI About Alpha Ventus Situated in the North Sea 45 km north of the island of Borkum, Alpha Ventus is Germany’s first offshore wind farm research project. The power produced annually by the twelve 5-megawatt turbines will meet the energy needs of 50,000 households. Its construction was far more complex than that of other wind parks that had been built outside Ger- many. The concept at the heart of Alpha Ventus is the reason for this: two types of German-manu- factured wind turbines were built on two different types of foundations using different types of con- structions. As a result the construction will provide valuable insights for future offshore projects. All in all, 250 million euros have been invested in this pioneering project which is run by a consortium of three utility companies EWE, E.ON and Vattenfall. 5,268 wind turbines in Niedersachsen 6,407 MW installed capacity 12,0347 GWh potential annual production 391 MW newly installed capacity Source: DEWI 5,268 Capacity installed in Germany (in 2009) 60.4% Enercon 8.8% Repower Systems 19.5% Vestas 4.9% Fuhrländer 6.4% others