News
10-08-2008
BARD cooperates with leading energy company in the Netherlands
Offshore windfarms planned in the Netherlands and Belgium
BARD-Group has agreed on a cooperation with Eneco New Energy B.V. a subsidiary of ENECO Holding N.V., one of the leading energy companies in the Netherlands. In informal talks parallel to the Husum Wind Energy Trade Fair Heiko Roß, General Manager of the BARD Engineering GmbH, and Toon Meijers, representing Eneco New Energy B.V. announced their intention for a collaboration. The intended cooperation between the two companies covers the implementation and operation of offshore wind farms in Germany and other European countries in the near future. The Letter of Intent (LOI) was recently signed in Emden. Roß spoke of ”the first step” into the internationalization strategy of the BARD-Group: “ With Eneco New Energy we have the ideal partner by our side for the realization of our offshore-projects in Germany and the possibility to supply our wind turbines to other offshore wind projects of Eneco.”
Eneco provides a continuously available, safe and future oriented supply of energy to domestic and business end users. With the Dutch wind farm “Prinses Amaliawindpark”, formerly known as “Q7”, Eneco already gained offshore wind experience. “Prinses Amaliawindpark” with 120 MegaWatt power supply, was commissioned two months ago, 23 kilometres off the coast of IJmuiden in 19 to 24 metres water depths. In the year 2012 the Dutch energy company will supply a minimum of twenty per cent of the total energy needs of its customers by way of renewable energy. Within this objective, offshore wind plays an important role. While signing the LOI with BARD, Meijers said: „We are delighted to start cooperating with the innovative and entrepreneurial company BARD in the upcoming European offshore market“.
Three further wind farms have been applied for by Eneco in the Dutch North Sea with the responsible government authorities in the Netherlands. One of the projects will be the wind farm Callantsoog Noord at approximately 30 kilometres off the coast from the city of Den Helder. The Callantsoog Noord wind farm is planned for a total capacity of more than 300 MegaWatt, corresponding to more than 2.5 times the size of the offshore Prinses Amaliawindpark. More projects are planned in Belgium costal waters said Meijers, where Eneco has applied for a concession recently.
BARDs activities, according to Roß are running as scheduled. For the already approved German offshore wind farm „BARD Offshore 1“ 100 kilometres northwest of Borkum all preparation works are exactly on time. The BARD-Group will start the installation of the first commercially used offshore wind farm in Germany in spring 2009.
For training and testing purposes, BARD just finished the installation of a wind turbine in Hooksiel, close to Wilhelmshaven near shore at average water depth of 4m. This was the by the way the first offshore foundation set in the German North Sea. It is planned to produce the first offshore electricity end of October.
The two BARD prototypes erected at the Rysumer Nacken in Emden have successfully completed their six months test-phase, said Roß: “The turbines exceed our expectations in output and availability”. The experts from the Germanischer Lloyd Certification, involved in the process of certification, proved the quality and handed out the certification. Experts from the banks and insurance companies verified high quality standards of the turbine.
The BARD-Group applied for seven further offshore wind farm permissions at the Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie in Hamburg. Together with the wind farm “BARD Offshore 1” a total of eight German offshore wind farms shall be installed and operated by the BARD-Group. In each wind farm 80 wind turbines will be installed. The total nominal power will exceed 3.000 MegaWatt which amounts approximately to the power of two conventional large scale power plants said Roß. The BARD-Group also applied for three further wind farms in the Dutch North Sea with the responsible government authorities in the Netherlands.
About Eneco
ENECO Holding N.V., with the head office located in Rotterdam, serves more than two million business and domestic customers, and is the third largest utility in the Netherlands. Eneco is also involved with a branch office in Belgium. Eneco is specialized in the generation, transmission, trading and supply of energy, gas and heat and related products and services. The shares of Eneco are held by 61 Dutch municipalities and Eneco has approximately 5.300 employees. Eneco New Energy B.V. is responsible for carrying out Eneco’s generation strategy. Everything revolves around the development of sustainable and clean energy generating installations, large scale as well as decentralized on the base of wind, sun and water.