The first of a total of fifty wind turbines has been successfully installed at the 476MW Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm, a joint venture between Iberdrola, a world leading clean energy company, and Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company – Masdar, the UAE’s clean energy powerhouse.
Working in partnership with Vestas , the remaining wind turbines will now be transported to the offshore construction site in the coming months and then installed using the jack-up vessel Blue Tern owned by Fred. Olsen Windcarrier.
Baltic Eagle is on track to become operational by the end of 2024, when it will supply renewable energy to around 475,000 households and contribute to Germany’s clean energy transition.
Milestone reached thanks to strong partnerships
"With the installation of its first wind turbine, Baltic Eagle is taking shape off the German Baltic coast. This marks the start of the final phase in the construction of the offshore wind farm, which is expected to become fully operational later this year." commented Felipe Montero, CEO of Iberdrola Deutschland. "My special thanks go to the Baltic Eagle team for their tireless efforts and outstanding performance. Thanks to the support of Vestas and our partner Masdar, we are confident that we will successfully complete what so far has been an outstanding construction campaign. With the commissioning of Baltic Eagle, the second offshore wind farm in our Baltic Hub, Iberdrola Deutschland continues its growth path, making a significant contribution to Germany’s Energy Transition."
Husain Al Meer, Director, Global Offshore Wind at Masdar added: “We are delighted that, together with Iberdrola and Vestas, we have taken this significant step toward making the landmark Baltic Eagle wind farm a reality. Masdar has a long-standing commitment to advancing offshore wind projects across the globe. Baltic Eagle will provide clean, renewable power to hundreds of thousands of homes, reducing carbon emissions and supporting Germany with its energy transition. We look forward to seeing the project come to life over the coming months, delivering tangible benefits to the local community and setting a precedent for sustainable energy solutions.”
“It’s a special moment to see the first wind turbine at Baltic Eagle installed, reflecting how everyone involved supports Germany’s clean and secure energy and offshore wind targets in the Baltic Sea,” said Nils de Baar, President of Vestas Northern & Central Europe. “Vestas is proud to be part of this project and our thanks go to our partner Iberdrola for their trust in our technology and the strong and productive collaboration since the beginning of this project.”
Proven technology and tried-and-tested installation methods
The Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm will generate its green electricity from a total of 50 Vestas V174-9.5MW wind turbines, each with an output of 9.525 megawatts (MW). The wind turbines have a rotor diameter of 174 meters and a hub height of 107 meters.
The optimized rotor blades are each 85 meters long and have been designed to be aerodynamically efficient and to minimize loads. The finished turbines reach a total height of 194 meters.
Fred. Olsen Windcarrier’s jack-up vessel Blue Tern is particularly suitable for the challenging terrain in the Baltic Sea thanks to its long legs. With its 800-ton main crane and a variable deck load capacity of 8,750 tons, it transports the towers, nacelles and rotor blades to the offshore construction site and erects them on the transition pieces. Fred. Olsen Windcarrier already gained experience in the Baltic Sea during the construction of the Iberdrola offshore wind farm Wikinger.
Iberdrola’s Baltic Hub
The Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm is an important part of Iberdrola’s ‘Baltic Hub’ in the German Baltic Sea. It is located north-east of the island of Rügen off the coast of Pomerania and is planned and operated from the port of Mukran in Sassnitz.
Scheduled to be operational by the end of 2024, the 476MW offshore wind farm will supply around 475,000 households with renewable energy while reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 800,000 tons per year.
Baltic Eagle is the second of three major projects in Germany, along with the Wikinger (350 MW, in operation) and Windanker (315 MW, in planning) wind parks. Collectively, these offshore wind parks form Iberdrola’s so-called Baltic Hub, which will have a total capacity of more than 1.1 GW in 2026 and trigger an investment sum of about 3.7 billion euros.
The Baltic Eagle offshore wind park is an important component in the integrated growth strategy that Iberdrola is pursuing in its German core market. In the area of sustainable energy solutions, the company aims to cooperate with key players in the German economy to support them in achieving their climate targets with market-based solutions.
Iberdrola’s partnership with Masdar
Masdar and Iberdrola signed a strategic agreement in July 2023 to co-invest in Baltic Eagle. At COP28, the two companies announced a further EUR15 billion strategic partnership agreement to evaluate the joint development of offshore wind and green hydrogen projects in key markets including Germany, the UK and the US.