RWE Innogy will hold a 60% stake in this joint venture, Stadtwerke München 30% and Siemens 10%.
The total investment amounts to more than two billion Euros, say the companies - including the grid connection to the coast.
Gwynt y Môr will have an installed capacity of 576 MW, and be located in Liverpool Bay, around 18 kilometres off the North Wales coast. Work will start towards the end of 2011 to erect the first foundations for a total of 160 wind turbines. All permits for the wind farm covering an area of 79 square kilometres have already been obtained. Siemens will supply, install and maintain the wind turbines, and provide the connection to the grid.
In its first phase of expansion, the wind farm is planned to generate electricity as early as 2013. The project is expected to be completed in 2014. From the outset, the developers hope to generate around 1,950 gigawatt hours of electricity annually, enough to supply around 400,000 British households . The site is in a very favourable location: Liverpool Bay in North Wales is characterised by comparatively shallow water and very high wind speeds.
Siemens will supply and erect 160 wind power installations each with a capacity of 3.6 MW.
Siemens will also be responsible for connecting the wind turbines to the grid, which entails the delivery of two turnkey offshore transformer platforms. Using high-voltage sea cables, power will be transmitted to the Welsh town of St. Asaph, from where inland distribution will take place. Siemens will also be responsible for maintenance of the wind farm for five years, with the option of an extension for a further 7 years.
RWE Innogy has arranged for another offshore construction ship to be built by the Korean shipyard Daewoo. The first of these offshore construction ships, the largest in the world, was ordered by the company at the end of last year for the erection of the German offshore wind farm Nordsee Ost (North Sea East). The order value for each ship is around 100 million Euros. The new construction ship is expected at the end of 2011. The foundations and wind turbines are to be pre-assembled and then transported out to sea.