REpower Systems AG (Hamburg, Germany), a developer of wind power rotors and turbines, has signed a supply contract with Talisman Energy Ltd. (UK) and Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) for the design and construction of two of its 5 MW wind energy turbines. With a nominal output of 5 MW, the REpower 5M wind energy turbine has been designed with deepwater wind farm operations in mind.
REpower will assemble both turbines next summer, at a depth of approximately 40 m next to the Talisman-operated Beatrice oilfield 25 km off the east coast of Scotland in the Moray Firth. The demonstrator is an integral part of the EU-promoted Distant Offshore Windfarms with No Visual Impact in Deepwater (DOWNVInD) project. Talisman and SSE are co-ordinating the project, which also involves a number of other research organizations and companies from throughout Europe. REpower is the exclusive turbine supplier.
REpower Systems CEO Fritz Vahrenholt stated, "The future of wind energy in Europe is offshore. Therefore, we have a particular interest in REpower being involved in DOWNViND, which is currently the biggest European development project for renewable energy and for which we are assembling two 5 MW turbines for Talisman. In a couple of years, offshore-windparks with many thousands of megawatts of output will produce electric power at competitive prices."
