Base port in Bremerhaven

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First components of the foundations have reached Bremerhaven

At the end of November the first components of the jacket foundations for the construction of the Nordsee Ost offshore wind farm reached Bremerhaven. The piles are 50 metres long and are weighing about 100 tonnes each. They will be used to fix the jacket foundations onto the sea bed.

In May 2010 RWE Innogy and Eurogate Container Terminal Bremerhaven GmbH have entered into agreements on use of areas in the Bremerhaven container port. RWE Innogy use these areas as a base port for constructing its offshore Nordsee Ost wind farm. The lease agreements are to run for a term of two years and cover areas totalling a maximum of 17 hectares and a directly adjacent quay of up to 400 meters on Container Terminal 1 in Bremerhaven. From this base, a total of 48 wind turbines of the 6 megawatt class, and the corresponding foundations, will be pre-assembled, shipped and assembled at the wind farm site approx. 35 kilometres to the north of the island of Helgoland. The Nordsee Ost offshore wind farm with a total installed capacity of 295 megawatts is due to be switched on in 2013.

To realise its ambitious offshore plans in this regard, RWE Innogy commissioned construction of special offshore construction ships from the Korean shipbuilders Daewoo. The first ship, with an order volume of approx. EUR 100 million, will be used in the construction of the Nordsee Ost wind farm. To allow unrestricted operations for this kind of construction ship in the Bremerhaven port area, the subsurface of the mooring area needs to be reinforced. The result of this construction work will in future be used not only by RWE Innogy, but also by other companies and ships operating in the region.

The areas on the container terminal also have to be prepared. This will entail Eurogate moving all containers currently stored in the area as well as disconnecting certain container gantries and shifting these to the north. RWE Innogy leased office space with around 50 workplaces.