wpd shows defmite interest. "Our planned North Sea project, Kaikas, was looking increasingly likely to suffer delays in the approval
process and in grid connection", wpd's Chairman, Blanke, recalls.
"To enable us to provide work for our complété offshore team, we
were looking for a new project, as a gap Aller, so-to-speak.
And there was another weighty plus in favour of Butendiek: "The
depth of the water for this project is hardly 20 métrés which applies to very few other German projects. That makes it easier to
install the foundation structures, in other words, it saves a lot of
money", explains Berge Olsen.
This was not the only criterion in favour of acquiring Butendiek. By
comparison with many other Virgin plans for offshore wind farms,
there were dozens of files with the results of important investigations for Butendiek as well as the approval. For example, these
included soil analyses or very important figures on the potential
energy yield. The measurements taken on Fino I showed signifïcantly higher wind speeds than had been originally assumed by
the Butendiek wind cooperative in its profitability calculations -
extra wind that helps to improve the cost-effectiveness of the
project.
Negotiations with Scottish and Southern Energy dragged on for
weeks. Until September 19, 2010. One day later, wpd sent out the
press release already mentioned announcing the acquisition of
Butendiek. One inconspicuous sentence in it was, as we shall see,
of enormous signifïcance. "With this purchase, the wpd group is
aiming to réalisé the wind farm quickly." A lofty ambition in view of
the previous decade which had so far elapsed for the implémentation of Butendiek.
128
process and in grid connection", wpd's Chairman, Blanke, recalls.
"To enable us to provide work for our complété offshore team, we
were looking for a new project, as a gap Aller, so-to-speak.
And there was another weighty plus in favour of Butendiek: "The
depth of the water for this project is hardly 20 métrés which applies to very few other German projects. That makes it easier to
install the foundation structures, in other words, it saves a lot of
money", explains Berge Olsen.
This was not the only criterion in favour of acquiring Butendiek. By
comparison with many other Virgin plans for offshore wind farms,
there were dozens of files with the results of important investigations for Butendiek as well as the approval. For example, these
included soil analyses or very important figures on the potential
energy yield. The measurements taken on Fino I showed signifïcantly higher wind speeds than had been originally assumed by
the Butendiek wind cooperative in its profitability calculations -
extra wind that helps to improve the cost-effectiveness of the
project.
Negotiations with Scottish and Southern Energy dragged on for
weeks. Until September 19, 2010. One day later, wpd sent out the
press release already mentioned announcing the acquisition of
Butendiek. One inconspicuous sentence in it was, as we shall see,
of enormous signifïcance. "With this purchase, the wpd group is
aiming to réalisé the wind farm quickly." A lofty ambition in view of
the previous decade which had so far elapsed for the implémentation of Butendiek.
128