trailer world Issue One 2012

10 Issue One 2012 Title Photos:BARD,TIIGroup installed output of about 2,000 additional megawatts can be started by the end of next year. “Alpha ventus” is Germany’s pilot project in the German Bight, a cooperation between EWE AG, E.ON Climate & Renewables GmbH and Vattenfall Europe New Energy GmbH. It has been in operation since April 2010 – a test field, which is intended to show how, what is designed on paper, in computers and minds really works in practice. 45 km off the coast of Lower Saxony, twelve 5-megawatt wind turbines stand in the North Sea. The towers rise up to the hub 94 metres high above the water and the rotors have a diameter of 116 metres. Offshore always means superlatives: Hundreds of metres, tonnes, megawatts. In addition to the financing and grid connection, it takes a lot of tech- nology, know-how, planning, technical and human power and also a certain amount of luck to construct such a wind farm in the open sea. Sophisticated logistics, which can mobilise the areas of procurement, production, installation and service are also needed. It is a tough workplace, and even getting here is difficult: the service technicians for “BARD Offshore 1” for example are lifted by helicop- ter to the transformer platform 90 kilometres northwest of Borkum, because transfers by ship would take too long and much of the work would be lost due to seasickness. The weather is not the only problem. Almost everything here is of a pioneering nature – almost everyone involved has entered new territory and must still gain experience. This transformer platform also serves as the landing pad for helicopters carrying personnel from the mainland to the construction site of Bard Offshore I. Pilot project in the German Bight

trailer world Issue One 2012

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