Baltic Eagle

Location and Site Details

The Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm is located approximately 28-30 kilometers northeast of Rügen Island in the German waters of the Baltic Sea. The site spans an area of around 40 square kilometers and is situated at water depths between 40 and 45 meters.

Project Details

• Capacity: The Baltic Eagle wind farm has a total capacity of 476 megawatts (MW).
• Turbines: The project features 50 Vestas V174-9.5MW wind turbines, each with a unit capacity of 9.53 MW. These turbines are the latest version of the 9MW platform offshore turbine from Vestas, with a 174-meter rotor blade diameter and a swept area of 23,778 square meters. Each turbine has 85-meter-long blades, and the nacelles are 21 meters long, 9 meters wide, and 9 meters high. The hub and tip heights of each turbine are 107 meters and 197 meters, respectively.
• Foundations: The wind turbines are installed on monopiles fabricated by EEW Special Pipe Constructions in Rostock, Germany. The monopiles have lengths ranging between 75 and 90 meters, diameters of up to 9 meters, and a maximum weight of 1,402 tonnes. The transition pieces, which connect the turbine towers to the foundations, were manufactured by Windar in Avilés, Spain.

Construction and Installation

• Construction Timeline: Construction began in April 2022 after receiving approval from the German Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH). The fabrication of the first monopile was completed in February 2022, and the remaining monopiles were completed by January 2023. The load-out of the foundations took place from April to September 2023.
• Installation: The installation of the wind turbines began in May 2024 and was completed by October 2024. The turbines were installed using the offshore jack-up installation vessel Blue Tern, owned by Fred. Olsen Windcarrier. The vessel is specially designed for the Baltic Sea seafloor and has an 800-tonne main crane.

Electrical Infrastructure

• Offshore Substation: The electricity generated by the turbines is collected and transformed at an onsite offshore substation. The substation was delivered in 2022, and its structural elements were provided by the joint venture of Iemants-Fabricom. Marine contractor Heerema transported and installed the substation. Siemens Gas and Power supplied the main electrical equipment for the low-voltage part of the substation.
• Grid Connection: The electricity is transmitted to the onshore platform in Lubmin through 90-kilometer-long high-voltage subsea cables and then fed into the power grid.

Environmental Impact and Energy Production

• Annual Production: The wind farm is expected to generate 1.9 terawatt-hours (TWh) of renewable electricity annually, sufficient to meet the energy needs of approximately 475,000 households.
• Carbon Emissions Reduction: The project will offset nearly 800,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year, contributing significantly to Germany's emission reduction targets.

Investment and Partnerships

• Investment: The project involves an investment of more than €1.1 billion, with a strategic agreement signed in July 2023 between Iberdrola and Masdar, valuing the project at approximately €1.6 billion.
• Partnerships: The Baltic Eagle wind farm is a joint venture between Iberdrola and Masdar, marking Masdar’s first project in Germany and its largest euro-denominated financing to date.

Contractors and Suppliers

• Turbine Supplier: MHI Vestas Offshore Wind supplied the MVOW V174 wind turbines.
• Installation and Transportation: Fred. Olsen Windcarrier was contracted for the transportation and installation of the turbines using the Blue Tern vessel.
• Other Contractors: Other key contractors include EEW SPC for monopile fabrication, Windar for transition pieces, Iemants-Fabricom for the substation structural elements, Heerema for substation installation, and various other companies for specific components and services.

Larger Context

• Baltic Hub: The Baltic Eagle wind farm is part of Iberdrola's Baltic Hub, which includes the Wikinger (350 MW) and Windanker (315 MW) wind farms. Together, these projects will form the largest offshore wind complex in the Baltic Sea, with a total installed capacity of more than 1.1 gigawatts (GW) by the end of 2026.
• Regional Significance: The Baltic Eagle, along with the Wikinger and Wikinger Süd wind farms, will generate 836 MW of energy, enough to meet 45% of the electricity consumption requirements of the state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania.