REpower Systems announced yesterday that it has successfully erected the last of the total of six REpower 5M turbines at the first German offshore wind farm Alpha Ventus. The test facility is now complete.

Alpha Ventus is located about 45 km north of the island of Borkum. The wind farm was built by a consortium of companies made up of E.ON, EWE and Vattenfall. The wind turbines were erected in a matter of weeks this autumn. Each unit is rated at 5 MW of power output (peak), and is 155 meters high above sea level to the uppermost blade tip position. REpower stated the construction phase went smoothly due to the company's large experience with offshore wind farms, such as the Thornton Bank offshore wind farm, near Belgium.

Construction work itself was done using a larger jack-up platform that enabled REpower to install the turbine as a preassembled object, rather than having to assemble the blades and the nacelle on site. Sea and weather conditions were favorable which also contributed to the job getting done quickly. The company expects the wind farm to start exporting generated power to the power grid by the end of the year. Maxiumum power output could be as much as 30 MW during peak generation time.

Alpha Ventus will be able to export enough clean electricity to power about 50,000 average homes, once it becomes fully operational.

[source: REpower]