E.ON and Statoil to build Arkona offshore wind farm
(c) E.ON
Energy supplier E.ON has decided to move forward with the Arkona offshore wind farm project in the Baltic Sea. The wind farm is expected to be fully operational in 2019. Norwegian energy company Statoil will have a 50% stake and will be involved in the project from the start. E.ON will have responsibility for building and operating the wind farm. Investments in the project will be in excess of EUR 1.2 billion. This will make E.ON the first company to operate wind farms in both the German North Sea and the Baltic Sea.
Arkona is located in the Baltic Sea, 35km northeast of Rügen Island. With an installed capacity of 385MW, the wind farm will be able to provide 400,000 homes with renewable energy and displace approximately 1.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. It will consist of 60 six-megawatt Siemens turbines. The turbine towers will be mounted on monopile foundations installed at depths of 23-37m.
For at least the next 25 years the logistics base for the construction and subsequent operation of Arkona offshore wind farm will be the Port of Sassnitz in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Up to 400 people will help build the wind farm during the construction phase. Once in service, the wind farm will create up to 50 permanent jobs for highly skilled staff in operations, administration, and maintenance as well as, indirectly, another 100 jobs for external service providers.