Offshore wind power: Potential in the future

Siemens supplied 175 turbines and connecting lines for London Array, the world's largest offshore wind farm project, inaugurated on July 4.

>>>Inauguration of the world's largest wind farm

Together with Dong Energy Energy, Siemens will also be responsible for the services of wind turbines through a long-term contract.

The wind power plant owned, developed and built by the joint venture of Dong Energy, E.ON and Masdar, has a total capacity of 630MW, providing enough for 500,000 households in the UK to use clean electricity.

London Array will help reduce CO ₂ emissions annually to approximately 900,000 tons, equivalent to the emissions of 300,000 passenger cars.

"London Array is the world's largest offshore wind power plant and marks a milestone for offshore wind power. This project confirms Siemens' leading position in this attractive growing market." , Peter Löscher, president and CEO of Siemens AG said during the opening ceremony in Margate, England.

The offshore London Array wind power plant is located at the mouth of the River Thames, about 20 km from Kent and Essex beaches. Siemens provides and installs 175 turbines, each with a rotor with a diameter of 120m and a capacity of 3.6MW.

In addition, the company also provides a connection to an on-shore sub-station and two offshore stations in the North Sea. Power from the turbines will be transmitted to the shore through high-voltage underground cables.

Wind power plants will be operated and maintained by a facility in Ramsgate."These important projects contribute to further industrialization of the process of combined production and logistics for offshore wind power plants," said Peter Löscher.

During the implementation of the London Array project, Siemens was able to standardize offshore installations including fabrication, transport and post-processing and installation of offshore wind turbines.

Offshore wind power has played an important role in the energy system of Northern Europe. The two largest offshore markets, Britain and Germany, have ambitious development projects. Both countries are planning to rapidly expand offshore wind power production.

In Germany, the transition of energy to meet future needs can only be successful by further developing offshore wind power. The German government plans to achieve 10GW offshore wind power in 2020. He is aiming to increase wind power capacity to 18GW by 2020, enough to meet nearly a fifth of Britain's electricity demand.

Siemens is at the forefront in the field of offshore wind power plants, transmission lines and offshore services. The company has installed more than 1,100 wind turbines at sea with a total capacity of 3.4GW, more than two thirds of which are currently located in the UK. Overall, this company is ordering 4.6GW offshore power.

Including London Array, Siemens is implementing five connection lines in the UK.