Brussels, 15/01/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted a loan of €500 million to EnBW Baltic 2, the largest offshore wind farm to date in the German Baltic Sea. The project is being realised by EnBW Erneuerbare Energien GmbH. The financing contract was signed on 10 January in Karlsruhe.
The 80 wind turbines of EnBW Baltic 2 will be developed on an area of 27 square kilometres, 32 km to the north of the island of Rügen, where the sea can be 44 metres deep, which means that special foundation structures, known as “jackets”, are required. With a capacity of 288 megawatts, EnBW Baltic 2 will achieve an annual output of 1.2 billion kilowatt hours. This means around 340,000 households can be supplied annually and around 900,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide can be saved in this way.
The project operator is the company EnBW Baltic 2 GmbH, which was founded for this purpose. EnBW Baltic 2 is the second offshore wind farm in the German Baltic Sea for EnBW. The energy company also operates the offshore wind farm EnBW Baltic 1, which is situated in a more southerly location. However, EnBW Baltic 2 surpasses its predecessor by far in terms of scale and output. It will have four times as many turbines and generate six times more electricity. The turbines should be in operation by 2014.
Wilhelm Molterer, EIB Vice-President, said: “Demanding projects are required so that Germany can implement its ambitious energy aims. EnBW Baltic 2 sets standards. It will be exemplary for future projects of this magnitude”. (OL/transl.jl)