Offshore wind drives Mukran expansion
The company behind Germany’s second commercial offshore wind power facility in the Baltic, EnBW Energie, has signed a deal for a support and components assembly base in the deepwater port of Mukran.
The base will be on a 60,000 sq/m site on 10.5m of water in the German Baltic port, on Rügen, some 32 km south of the EnBW Baltic 2 Offshore Wind Park.
The park will cover about 27sq/km and boast some 80 turbines, each of 3.6MW, when it starts operation in 2013. The firm’s first wind farm, EnBW Baltic 1, goes into service this year.
Preparations for the Mukran Offshore Base began earlier this year. Port owners Fährhafen Sassnitz are driving pile walls and filling in to create the Hafen-Sued site for EnBW support operations from 2012.
The base will assemble turbines and load them onto installation vessels. A statement said Mukran had been chosen because of its closeness to Baltic 2, its heavy load areas, quay facilities and deep water.
The port is Germany’s easternmost deepwater facility. It is also the only one in western Europe with transshipment track for Russian broad-gauge rail wagons. Fährhafen Sassnitz said it has lots more space and is an ideal location for offshore production and supply.
Colcrete in Essen is building the Hafen-Sued site and has also built the port’s just opened new Berth 9, which officials said had added ‘new handling flexibility’. Offshore component, bulk, breakbulk and cruise shipping are all tipped for Berth 9, which cost € 8.7m. It is on 10.5m of water and adds 205m of quay and 10,000 sq/m of handling area as well as a rail link.
Now available are 385m of continuous quay along Berth 9 and Berth 8 for two ships at once. Next year a further 60,000 sq/m of handling area is being added.
By Tom Todd
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