Nordsee One

Wind Farm

Location

The Nordsee One wind farm has a total area of 41.3 km² and is located approximately 40 km north of the island of Juist, between the Terschelling-German Bight and German Bight Western Approach shipping lanes.

The Nordsee One wind farm consists of an offshore transformer platform and 54 wind turbines installed at a depth of between 26 and 29 metres.

Power

The average wind speed at the site is around 10 m/s, which results in an output of up to 3,620 net full load hours. This is more than twice as much as would be expected at a good onshore coastal location and justifies the higher costs for installation and maintenance at sea. The 54 turbines in the 6 MW class will produce an average of 1.2 billion kilowatt hours per year.

This means that Nordsee One will be able to cover the electricity consumption of around 400,000 average households and save over one million tonnes of CO2 compared to a conventional coal-fired power plant.

Wind Farm Layout

The Nordsee One wind farm layout is designed to maximize efficiency and output. The farm consists of 54 Senvion 6.2M126 turbines, each with a 6.15 MW capacity, strategically placed across a 41.3 km² area in the North Sea. The turbines are connected via inter-array cables, optimizing power collection and transmission.

Permit

The approval of the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie - BSH) for Nordsee One was granted in April 2012. This was the result of an approval process lasting several years. Various interests such as fishing, military use, environmental protection areas, shipping, mining, existing cables and pipelines were taken into account. The initial application documents were submitted in 2006 and completed in subsequent years. The authorisation procedure also included a transparent consultation and hearing process. All affected parties were invited to submit their comments and the results were discussed in a meeting chaired by the BSH. The licence is publicly available at www.bsh.de. During operation, the project must also fulfil several approval conditions imposed by the BSH. Through certification by an independent body, Nordsee One ensures that the technologies chosen for the various elements of the wind farm are state of the art and will be operated in a safe and environmentally friendly manner.

Grid Connection

According to German regulations, the responsible transmission system operator must plan, build and operate the grid connection from the connection point at the offshore substation of the wind farm on land and over land to the grid connection point.

The alternating current generated by the Nordsee One wind turbines is transformed from 33kV to 155kV in the Nordsee One offshore substation. The Nordsee One offshore substation is connected to the grid via the Dolwin Beta HVDC connection. This connection consists of two 7.5 km long 155 kV alternating current submarine cables that run from the Nordsee One substation to the Dolwin Beta HVDC converter station, where the electricity is converted from alternating current to direct current. From the Dolwin Beta HVDC converter station, two 320 kV direct current submarine cables with a length of 45 km and two land cables with a length of 90 km transport the electricity to the grid connection point on land in Dörpen-West, where the electricity is converted back into alternating current and fed into the existing 380 kV electricity grid.

Environment

Nordsee One not only produces environmentally friendly energy, but also has a comprehensive environmental monitoring program during the operational phase of the wind farm to monitor its environmental impact.