The energy group RWE plans to build the biggest German offshore windfarm in the North Sea by 2015 for a cost of about 2.8 billion euros (US$4.0 billion), it said on Dec. 19.
The group's RWE Innogy unit is to run the Innogy Nordsee 1 wind farm 25 miles north of the island of Juist over an area of about 58 square miles.
Approval for the project was expected by late 2009, with the first turbines running by 2011 and final completion four years later, with anticipated total capacity of 960 megawatts, it added.
"That is the largest single project RWE has undertaken so far in the area of renewables," the statement quoted chief executive Juergen Grossmann as saying.
Tests at the site suggest it would be able to produce more than three terawatt hours of electricity per year, "enough to supply electricity to at least 780,000 households," said RWE, the second biggest German power company.
The farm would be located in water which is 26-34 meters deep, which meant high demands for planning, implementation and technology, the statement said.
RWE has also acquired major interests in offshore farms in England and Wales.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2008
