Siemens’ Gemini consortium (Gemini Wind Farm) has signed all construction, operations and financing contracts with a total construction budget of nearly EUR 3 billion. With more than 20 parties involved 70% of this budget will be provided on the basis of project financing – making Gemini the largest-ever project financed offshore wind farm. For the Gemini project Siemens will deliver 150 wind turbines with a capacity of 4 MW and a rotor diameter of 130 meters each.
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The wind power plant is to be located in the North Sea. With an installed capacity of 600 MW in total Gemini will yield 2.6 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity per year. This is Siemens’ first offshore wind power plant order in Dutch waters, and the innovative service concept banks on the ongoing presence of a service vessel and the steady ground readiness of a helicopter.
Siemens' 15-year service and maintenance agreement for the Gemini project is the largest service order ever for Siemens Energy Service. It will introduce a highly advanced logistics concept for offshore sites. For the first time, a helicopter will be available for a project at all times and a specially designed, purpose-built service operation vessel (SOV) will be based at the wind farm. To ensure increased turbine availability, maintenance work can be carried out at almost all times irrespective of the weather conditions or wave height.
Randy Zwirn, CEO of Energy Service for Siemens Energy says, "Wind energy is becoming increasingly important to the world's energy mix. Therefore wind turbines need to operate at optimum levels over their entire service life." He underlines, "This record achievement for our offshore wind service business underscores confidence in the highly advanced and innovative service logistics concept we created for Gemini, which is a direct result of the significant investments we make in R&D and the years of experience we have as the world's leading offshore service provider."
Financial Services contributed to securing the Siemens bid by participating in the Gemini consortium via an equity investment. The multi-source financing model used in the project sends a signal how the appetite for offshore wind assets can be aligned across a wide range of investor groups.
"We are very pleased to be working with Siemens on project Gemini. As the global leader in offshore wind turbine supply with more than 20 years of experience, the involvement of Siemens contributes to the solid structure of the project and will help us to deliver a high quality facility that will help to fulfill the Netherlands' renewable energy targets", notes John Brace, CEO of Northland Power Inc., the biggest shareholder.
As Matthias Haag, CEO of Gemini, points out: "With project financing and all building and supply contracts now in place, our focus has already shifted to the construction phase."
By supplying one and a half million of Dutch citizens with clean energy, Gemini will play an important role in helping the Government of the Netherlands achieve the targets mandated by the European Union's Renewable Energy Directive. It implies for the Netherlands to reach a 14% share of energy from renewable sources by 2020. Today the Dutch market has an installed wind power capacity of 2.7 GW, thereof 2.45 GW onshore. The offshore target is 4.45 GW to be operational in 2023.