After seven years of planning and construction, the 400-MW offshore wind farm Global Tech I off the German North Sea coast was officially inaugurated on 2 September.
Together with the managing directors and shareholders of the project company Global Tech I Offshore Wind GmbH, the mayors of the German cities of Hamburg and Bremen, Olaf Scholz and Carsten Sieling, and the Minister of Economic Affairs of Lower Saxony, Olaf Lies, officially inaugurated the North Sea wind farm Global Tech I on 2 September.
Scholz sees Global Tech I as an example of teamwork at its best. "The project was planned, financed and implemented across German federal state boundaries. Bremen delivered the turbines and also controls them, the grid connection is in Lower Saxony and Hamburg is responsible for operation and management of the wind farm."
Dr Florian Bieberbach, managing director at Stadtwerke München GmbH, explained the objectives pursued by the company with its 25-percent stake in the project: "Global Tech I is the third offshore wind farm that we were involved in and inaugurated this year. Construction work on the fourth project recently began at sea. This demonstrates how important this relatively new technology is for SWM. Without offshore wind power, we would not be able to achieve our ambitious expansion goals in the field of renewable energies: By 2025, we intend to generate as much green electricity as the entire city of Munich consumes."
Global Tech I consists of eighty 5-MW wind turbines, has a total installed capacity of 400 MW, and together with BARD Offshore I it is one of the most powerful German offshore wind farms ever put into operation. At a distance of 140 kilometers from the logistics base in Emden, Global Tech I is also the farthest German offshore wind farm from the coast. The grid connection had to be postponed several times, so the construction schedule of Global Tech I was adapted as much as possible.
The following shareholders have stakes in the project: The three utilities Stadtwerke München GmbH, ENTEGA AG (formerly HEAG Südhessische Energie AG, Darmstadt) and the Swiss company Axpo. Other stakeholders include the Meltl family (private investors) via Esportes Offshore Beteiligungs GmbH and the two project development companies Norderland Projekt GmbH and Windreich GmbH (the original initiators of the wind farm). In addition, FC 1 Wind GmbH, FC 2 Wind GmbH, GTU I GmbH and GTU II GmbH are also involved.
Bodo Höche / Global Tech I
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