Positive
Project advancing - milestone achieved
High Impact
Major milestone or critical setback
On 9 June 2004, the German Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) issued the SeeAnlV Genehmigungsbescheid to WINKRA Offshore Nordsee Planungs- und Betriebsgesellschaft mbH for the construction and operation of the Nordsee Ost offshore wind farm in the German Exclusive Economic Zone (AWZ) of the North Sea, approximately 30 km northwest of Helgoland on a 35 km² project area at average water depths of 25 m. The original approval covered 80 wind turbines at 4-5 MW each. The application had been filed on 16 July 2000. WINKRA was acquired by Dutch utility Essent, which was in turn absorbed into the RWE Group in 2009 (operator entity Windpark Nordsee Ost GmbH, ex-Essent Wind Nordsee Ost). The as-built project was reduced to 48 Senvion 6.2M126 turbines (295 MW total) on jacket foundations, with first power in December 2014, full construction in early 2015, and official inauguration by Federal Economics Minister Sigmar Gabriel on 11 May 2015 alongside the G7 energy ministers meeting.