BALTIC II

The project comprises a new large-scale 288 MW offshore wind farm, consisting of 80 wind turbines located in the Baltic Sea about 35 km off the German coast. The project’s transmission grid connection may become part of a greater interconnected grid which will benefit from a grant under the European Energy Programme for Recovery fund.

According to the German government, a major element in achieving EU and national targets for the use of renewable energy is to develop the capacity of the offshore wind energy sector substantially. The governmental objective is to have at least 1 500 MW of offshore wind farms installed by 2011, with the long term goal to increase this capacity successively to at least 20 000 MW by 2030.

The project, by virtue of its technical characteristics, falls under Annex II of Directive 85/337/EEC (as amended) with regard to EIA. According to national regulations offshore wind farms with more than 20 units are subject to a full EIA including public consultation. The competent authorities granted a conditional approval after extensive public consultation and confirmed with the permit that significant negative impacts on nature conservation sites can be excluded.

The promoter is a “public undertaking” according to the Utilities Directive 2004/17/EC and as such it has to follow public procurement rules. The project will be implemented under a number of separate contracts for which calls for tenders have been published in the EU Official Journal.