| Alpha Ventus | |
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Construction work at alpha ventus wind park |
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| Country | Germany |
| Location | North Sea, ~44 km (27 mi) northwest of Borkum |
| Coordinates | |
| Status | operational |
| Commission date | 2009 |
| Owner(s) | EWE E.ON Vattenfall |
| Turbine information | |
| Turbines | 6 × AREVA Multibrid M5000 6 × REpower 5M |
| Manufacturer(s) | Areva REpower |
| Power generation information | |
| Installed capacity | 60 MW |
| Capacity factor | 42% |
| Net generation | ~220 GW·h [1] |
| As of 24 October 2010 | |
Alpha ventus (also known as Borkum West) is Germany's first offshore wind farm. It is situated in the North Sea 45 kilometres (28 mi) north of the island of Borkum.
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The application for construction of the wind farm near Borkum was submitted in 1999. The permit was given by the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency in 2001. In 2007, contracts for supplying wind turbines were signed with REpower and Areva. At the same year, a contract for construction of the subsea cable connecting the wind farm with the German grid. was signed. Construction of the alpha ventus substation started in July 2008. On July 15, 2009, the first wind turbine was installed and the first six turbines delivered by Areva went operational in August 2009. Installation of another six turbines delivered by REpower started in September 2009.[2] Construction of the wind farm was completed on November 16, 2009 after a seven month construction period. On April 27, 2010 the farm was officially opened and set into commercial operation.[3]
The wind farm is owned by Deutsche Offshore-Testfeld und Infrastruktur-GmbH & Co. KG, a joint venture of EWE (47.5%), E.ON (26.25%), and Vattenfall (26.25%).[4] It consist of twelve turbines of which six turbines are 5 megawatt (MW) Areva Multibrid (M5000) and six turbines are REpower 5M. Turbines stand in 30 m of water and are not visible from land.[5] The REpower turbines are installed onto jacket foundations (OWEC Jacket Quattropods) by the crane ship Thialf and Areva turbines are installed onto tripod-style foundations by the jack-up barge Odin.[2] In May 2010 two Areva Multibrid, generators went off service due severe overheating in their gearboxes. There is a pressure to Areva to replace all six turbines.[6]
Due to delays, the cost of the project grew from 190 million to 250 million euro (US$270 to $357 million), or 4200 €/kW (6000 $/kW).[7][8]
Because it is the first offshore wind farm in Germany, alpha ventus is accompanied by several research projects sponsored by the Federal Ministry for Environment (BMU). In 2003, the research platform FINO 1 was built approximately 400 m to the west of the wind farm. Research interests include:[9]
Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Alpha_ventus Alpha ventus] at Wikimedia Commons
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