“Today’s inauguration makes Heligoland officially our home port for the successful operation of our Nordsee Ost wind farm”, added Hans Bünting, Managing Director of RWE Innogy GmbH. “Together with our local partners, we erected a modern service building exclusively with sustainable materials within an extremely short period of time. This is because our new building is intended to be certified by Deutsche Gesellschaft für nachhaltiges Bauen (German Sustainable Building Council). With such a project we are pursuing a conclusive overall concept for the recreational island of Heligoland, which has renewable energy generation and sustainable building go hand in hand.”

“Germany’s only island in the open sea demonstrates how well services for offshore wind power and tourism go together”, said Jörg Singer, Mayor of the Heligoland municipality. “The interest of our guests in offshore renewables is great, as, all in all, over 12% more guests came to the island in the first six months of 2014 than in the year before.”

Its exposed location makes Heligoland particularly well suited for the erection of a service station for the operation of the Nordsee Ost offshore wind farm. This is because wind power systems in the open sea require more maintenance than onshore wind turbines because waves and seawater result in much more wear and tear.

Usually a wind power system in the open sea requires about four to five days of maintenance per year. The foundation structures above and under water also have to be inspected on a regular basis. Unforeseen events like strong storms may require additional maintenance. For the service base on Heligoland this means that vessels with service staff leave for the wind farm at sea on a regular basis and return in the evening when their work has been completed. These vessels are loaded with tools as well as spare parts and are fuelled from the quay wall. The first of a total of some 50 service staff have already moved into the new building in the southern port.

Following its completion in spring 2015, the Nordsee Ost offshore wind farm will have an installed capacity of some 295 megawatts and supply the equivalent of some 300,000 homes with electricity per year. At present, the 48 wind power systems of the 6 megawatt class are being erected on site. In parallel, the first maintenance work will be carried out on the foundations starting this summer.

The service staff responsible for the maintenance will temporarily live on Heligoland. A new apartment building has been erected on the island upon RWE Innogy’s request and has been completely rented by the company. The house with its some 320 square meters comprises 18 apartments and a large lounge room. A second house with twelve apartments has been rented by the company Senvion for its staff.