Willi Balz, who gathered the around 800 million in equity required forGlobal Tech I, and Tim Kittelhake, who performed all of the project work to date, are delighted about the punctual start of construction of the first 400 MW North Sea wind farm, Global Tech I initiated by Windreich AG. "We keep our promises." The experienced Windreich AG managers are now managing directors of the second Windreich North Sea windfarm MEG 1, which also has one of the sought-after network connections, together with Anil Srivastava, the former CEO of AREVA Renewable Energies.
In the German North Sea, the installation of the windfarm consisting of 80 wind turbines type AREVA Wind M5000 with an output of 5 MW (total of 400 MW) will begin in the next few days. The floating and self-installing Alstom substation will firstly be towed from the shipyard in Rotterdam to the 43 square kilometre construction site. Then the first tripods (with sturdy foundations for deep waters weighing 950 tonnes) will be shipped from their storage location on the ABC peninsula in Bremerhaven to the windfarm area 180 kilometres away. In autumn 2012, installation of the internal farm cabling will commence. This guarantees, as it has always been emphasised, full completion by the end of 2013 as scheduled.
Global Tech I will then provide 1 million people with affordable and safely generated electricity. Due to the experiences gained over two years with the Alpha Ventus test windfarm, equipped with the same 5 MW AREVA technology, 98 percent availability and more than 4500 full load hours can be expected. Alpha Ventus, which is not in such a favourable wind position as Global Tech I, only failed to supply electricity on three days in the generally low wind year 2011. North Sea wind power is therefore proven to be capable of producing a base load.