DUSSELDORF, Germany, Oct. 22 (UPI) — All 80 turbines at the Amrumbank West offshore wind farm in the German waters of the North Sea are connected to the grid, energy company E.ON said.
The German energy company said construction at its Amrumbank West wind farm was completed. With 80 turbines working at full capacity, the company said the 288-megawatt facility could produce enough energy to meet the demands of 300,000 average households and offset more than 740,000 tons of carbon emissions each year.
Germany is one of the world leaders in renewable energy, a trend emphasized after its decision to move away from nuclear power in the wake of the nuclear tragedy in Japan in 2011. The United Kingdom is close behind and, combined, the European Union has more than 100 gigawatts of wind power online.
The company’s Amrumbank West wind power project in the German waters of the North Sea started providing limited power for the German grid in May. That followed February’s transmissions to the British grid from the Humber Gateway project, another E.ON project.
“We’ve commissioned two large offshore wind farms — Amrumbank West and Humber Gateway off the U.K. coast — in just one year,” E.ON Management Board member Bernhard Reutersberg said in a statement. “Both were completed on time and on budget, which underscores our ability to expand renewables.”
The German company last week sold its entire North Sea exploration division to a subsidiary of LetterOne, a company controlled by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman. First half income for E.ON of $1.36 billion was 21 percent lower than at the same time last year, a loss the company blamed on lower oil prices.
In September, the company started construction on the 20-megawatt Maricopa West solar project in Southern California. With 89,000 panels, the company said it’s the second such large-scale project built by E.ON in the western United States.
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