Last permits for German test facility
Germany's federal shipping office, Bundesamt für Schifffahrt und Hydrographie, has given the final all-clear for construction of the country's first offshore wind farm, the utility-sponsored 60 MW Alpha Ventus test facility. It will be located 45 kilometres north of the island of Borkum, where water depth is about 45 metres. The final clearance covers the turbine, tower and foundation design as well as the plan of action for installing the first six foundations of the 12-turbine project. The BSH has also set up a security zone around the site, which includes the Fino 1 scientific monitoring platform installed back in 2003. German Multibrid, a wind turbine supplier owned by large French engineering conglomerate Areva, is supplying the first batch of machines, which are scheduled to be online by the end of the year, with the second six due to be delivered by Germany's Repower Systems from the start of 2009. The German Industry Offshore Foundation, which owns the project, has leased the rights to it to Deutsche Offshore Testfeld und Infrastruktur, more colloquially known as DOTI, a company owned by energy majors E.ON and Vattenfall and regional German energy supplier, EWE.