Dong Energy opens 400MW Anholt offshore wind plant in Denmark

DONG Energy has opened the 400MW Anholt offshore wind power plant in Denmark.

Located off Denmark’s eastern coast, about 20km northeast of the Jutland peninsula, the power plant features 111 Siemens wind turbines, each with a capacity of 3.6MW and a rotor diameter of 120m.

The power plant will supply enough energy for about 400,000 homes in Denmark, covering around 4% of the country’s overall power demand.
Germany-based Siemens installed all the wind turbines over a surface area of 88km2 in water depths of about 19m. Siemens will also handle the wind projects’ maintenance for a period of five years.

DONG Energy has a 50% ownership stake in the power plant and the remaining stake is held by investors PensionDanmark with 30%, and PKA with 20%.

Siemens said Anholt is the fifth offshore wind power plant to be formally inaugurated within short span of time. In July and August 2013, the world’s largest offshore wind power plant, the 630MW London Array, as well as Britain’s Greater Gabbard and 270MW Lincs projects went on online.

Siemens CEO of the wind power division for energy sector Markus Tacke said despite some challenging weather conditions, the company has executed the Anholt power project on schedule.

"Implementation of our offshore projects in Europe is running at full speed. So far, Siemens has installed more than 3,900 megawatts of offshore wind power capacity," Tacke said.