Iberdrola installs first foundation for 'Baltic Eagle' offshore wind farm

Iberdrola has recently successfully installed the first foundation for the Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm on the seabed. Following the installation of the offshore substation (OSS) in February 2023, the company is now entering the core stage of the Baltic Eagle construction phase.

Currently, the heavy-lift installation vessel Svanen is working off the island of Rügen in the offshore wind farm, which is located 30 km northeast of the German island of Rügen and covers a 40 km2 area. On the basis of a special feeder concept, the monopiles of the Rostock-based company, EEW SPC, are towed from the Port of Rostock out to the construction site and positioned upright by the gripper. The steel piles with a diameter of between 8.75 – 9 m and a length of between 75 – 90 m are then driven into the seabed.

Transportation of the transition pieces to the storage site in the Port of Mukran also began at the beginning of March. These transition pieces connect the monopile with the wind turbine and will be deployed during 2Q23. The laying of the inter-array cables is then planned for later in 2023.

“We are pleased to be working with many experienced and professional partners on such a complex offshore project – such as EEW SPC, Windar and VanOord in this respect,” emphasised Iris Stempfle, Managing Director of Iberdrola Renovables Germany. “We are fully on schedule with the construction of Baltic Eagle and continue to be a reliable partner for the decarbonisation of the German industry with the expansion of the Baltic Hub to approximately 826 MW by the end of next year.”

With a production capacity of 476 MW, Iberdrola's Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm will supply approximately 475 000 homes with renewable energy while reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 800 000 tpy. The farm is scheduled to be fully operational by the end of 2024. Baltic Eagle is the second of Iberdrola's three large scale projects in Germany, along with Wikinger (350 MW, in operation) and Windanker (300 MW, in planning). Collectively, these offshore wind farms form Iberdrola's so-called Baltic Hub, which will have a total capacity of more than 1.1 GW by 2026 and trigger an investment sum of about €3.7 billion.

The Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm is an important building block in the integrated growth strategy that Iberdrola is pursuing in its core German market. In the field of sustainable energy solutions, the company aims to cooperate with key players in the German industry to support them in achieving their climate goals with market-based solutions. A core element here is the integration of power purchase agreements into a modern electricity supply portfolio and the development of projects in the field of hydrogen production and trading.

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