Germany's first offshore wind farm starts working
FRANKFURT, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Germany's first offshore wind power park, Alpha Venture in the North Sea, has begun the gradual commissioning of the first three of its total 12 turbines, a spokesman for the venture said on Wednesday.
"I had information last night that the three have started running and full test production levels will be reached within days," said the spokesman for DOTI -- a joint venture owned by utilities E.ON (EONGn.DE), Vattenfall Europe [VATN.UL] and EWE.
"Depending on weather patterns, all 12 turbines (of 5 megawatts each) can be started probably by the end of the year."
"Judging by the current speed of construction and start-up procedures, we are confident we can reach that target," he said.
The 250 million euro ($353.2 million) wind farm is also known as Borkum West as it lies 45 km north of the island of Borkum near the Dutch border.
It is partly sponsored by the government and is the first of 30 projects planned for the seas around northern Germany.
Countries like Denmark and Britain already have advanced offshore wind industries but their turbines are not situated as far out at sea as Germany's planned projects.
These hope to benefit from stronger winds further out while sparing wildlife near the coast, which involves building especially strong, 30-metre-deep, steel foundations.
Six of the turbines are made by Areva (CEPFi.PA) and six by rival REpower (RPWGn.DE).
Alpha Ventus has been connected to the German power grid at Hagermarsch by a 66 km-long cable operated by transpower, formerly E.ON Netz, since May.
It will be able to supply the equivalent of 50,000 households with power.
Offshore wind power is one of the core elements of the German government's push to double its renewable power by 2020. (Reporting by Vera Eckert; editing by James Jukwey)
