Vattenfall and Stadtwerke München (Munich municipal utility) have agreed to form a joint venture with the purpose to develop the DanTysk offshore wind farm, about 70 km from the island of Sylt. The wind farm is to have 80 wind turbines installed, at water depths of about 30 meters. Vattenfall will have a 51% stake in the ownership of the joint venture project.

The project has reached advanced status regarding technical support and plans for construction. Negotiations are under way with wind turbine suppliers and suppliers of other components, with the conclusion expected in autumn this year. The first turbines are planned for commissioning in 2013. Once completed, the DanTysk wind farm will be able to supply up to about 500,000 homes with clean electricity. This, however, depends on the choice of wind turbines, but judging from the number of wind turbines and the estimated number of supplied households, the units will most probably be of the high multimegawatt class (6 MW?).

The final investment decision for the project is to be made by October 2010. By then, a final assessment of commercial feasibility will have to be made, due to the large distance from the shore and the need for a prepared grid access solution, most likely to converge on the joint connection on Sylt cluster.

One of the big ideas behind this project, and more like it in the future, is that there are plans for the city of Munich to be supplied with electricity completely generated from renewable energy sources from its own power plants, by 2025.

[source: Vattenfall]