50Hertz and wind farm operator Skyborn Renewables (Skyborn) seek to jointly implement Gennaker, the currently largest offshore wind project in the German Baltic Sea. To accomplish this, essential preconditions were now established. 50Hertz has laid the foundations for the development of two substations by a Dutch-Belgian consortium and Skyborn has fulfilled the requirements for a grid connection.

The consortium consists of the companies HSM Offshore Energy, Smulders and Iv-Offshore & Energy. They won the tender for the development of the platforms and the connected services. Together, they will be responsible for the planning, engineering, procurement of components, construction, offshore installation and commissioning of the substations and of the foundations, the so-called jacket. The work is to be carried out on yards in the Netherlands and in Belgium. A few weeks ago, the joint venture was already awarded the development of an offshore substation for the Ostwind 3 project. The Ostwind 3 grid connection project will connect the Windanker wind farm to the north-east of Rügen island and deliver an output of 300 MW.

Stefan Kapferer, CEO of 50Hertz: “The grid connection for the Gennaker wind farm is one of our top projects for the next decade, next to the grid connection projects to the north-east of Rügen island and the joint German-Danish project Bornholm Energy Island. We aim to connect an offshore wind capacity of around five gigawatts to our grid in the waters between Germany and Denmark during this period. 50Hertz wants to tap into the large wind power potential of the Baltic Sea, not only independently, but also and increasingly with European partners such as the Danish system operator Energinet. This way, we can contribute to the greater energy independence of Germany as well as Europe.”

“Offshore wind is an essential component to increase the share of renewable energies in the electricity supply to 80 percent by 2030. In this respect, the swift realisation of the Gennaker project is of elementary importance in order to achieve the climate targets in Germany and Europe,” said Achim Berge Olsen, CEO of Skyborn. “Securing the grid connection is an important milestone for the Gennaker project. This puts further planning on a solid foundation. We are looking forward to implementing this ambitious project together with a reliable partner like 50Hertz,” Berge Olsen adds.

With a total capacity of 927 MW, Gennaker will be the most powerful offshore wind farm in the German Baltic Sea to date. OWP Gennaker GmbH, a subsidiary of Skyborn, will realise the Gennaker wind farm around 15 kilometres north of the Fischland-Darß-Zingst peninsula. The project area is located in a priority area for offshore wind energy in the coastal sea of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The Gennaker project has had a building permit since May 2019. Around the Baltic 1 wind farm, which has already been in existence for more than ten years, 103 high-performance offshore wind turbines from Siemens-Gamesa are to be grouped.

50Hertz is responsible for the entire grid connection project called Grid Connection OST-6-1. The generated wind power will be collected on two offshore platforms and transported at the 220-kV extra-high-voltage level. Tree submarine cable systems will be installed to transport the electricity to the mainland. The cable route up to the new substation to be built in the Sanitz/Gnewitz/Dettmannsdorf/Marlow survey area will be around 90 kilometres in length, of which 50 kilometres as a submarine cable on the seabed. The Grid Connection OST-6-1 project is currently being prepared for the planning approval procedure at the Ministry of Economics, Infrastructure, Tourism and Labour of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. For the purposes of early public participation in the scope of the procedure, consultations were already held with municipalities over the course of the past few months and their feedback was collected.