REpower participates in first offshore wind farms in German Baltic Sea and North Sea

REpower Systems AG (WKN 617703) is expected to participate in the planned offshore wind farms “Baltic I” with two offshore wind energy turbines of type REpower 5M. The partial planning permission for the first German offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea which has just been granted by the Ministry for the Environment for the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern region includes the installation and operation of a total of 21 offshore turbines at a distance of 15 to 16 kilometres off the Darß coast and in water depths of 16 to 19 metres. There is the option of erecting two turbines of type REpower 5M – each with five megawatts of rated power, a hub height of 100 metres and a rotor diameter of 126 metres.

“The permission of ‘Baltic I’ in line with the Federal Emission Protection Law is an important milestone for the development of the offshore market in Germany, which is crucial for competitiveness. The possibility of participating in ‘Baltic I’ with two 5M, would give REpower the ‘pole position’ among the first German offshore projects”, comments Prof. Dr. Fritz Vahrenholt, CEO of REpower Systems AG and adds, “Power from ‘Baltic I’ will be enough to supply approx. 57,000 households per year with wind-generated electricity. Alone, our 5M which is specially designed for offshore usage, can supply approx. 6,000 three-person households with electricity.”

REpower has already been operating the prototype of 5M in Brunsbüttel in Schleswig-Holstein since February 2005; this year, four further turbines are to be set up onshore (in DEWI-OCC test field in Cuxhaven) and offshore (“Beatrice” demonstrator project 25 kilometres off the Scottish coast).

As early as September 2005, the Stiftung Offshore Windenergie [Offshore Wind Energy Foundation] had obtained the location rights for the Borkum West test wind farm with a total of 12 turbines. REpower is a member of the foundation’s board of trustees and will set up four 5M turbines off Borkum. With “Borkum West” and “Baltic I” REpower will thus be involved with a total of six 5M in the first German offshore wind farms in both the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. The offshore wind farm “Baltic I” will be operated by Offshore Ostsee Wind AG and will presumably start up in 2007.