One of the essentiel pre-requisites for an offshore wind farm is
and always has been an approved connection to the grid. According to the régulations valid at the time, the responsible Fédéral Network Agency assigned this grid connection twice a year,
and always on the cut-off dates April 1 and September 1, For this,
the potential operators had to perform a sériés of assignments,
or in other words, the agency linked their approvai to numerous
investment decisions for the intended turbines or the internai
cabling on the farm. To obtain the green light from the authorities in Bonn, the owners had to présent signed main contracts of
an offshore wind farm on each cut-off date. As well as the wind
turbines and internai cabling, these included the foundations and
the transformer substation.
THE OFFSHORE TEAM AROUND ACHIM BERGE OLSEN WAS NA~
TURALLY AWARE OF THIS. OPERATION "FAST TRACK" [AS IT
WAS CALLED WITHIN THE COMPANY) STARTED WORK WHICH
WAS ALWAYS GOING TO BE A RACE AGAINST TIME.
Besides the negotiations for the main components, the wpd offshore team around Andree Ifflànder, the responsible head of Project at that important stage, had to overcome two further major
obstacles:
------The Fédéral Maritime and Hydrographie Agency of Germany [BSH] had approved Butendiek for the first time in December
2002. As there had been constant delays, the earlier initiators
had several times requested extensions to the approvai which
were always of limited duration - and also always obtained them.
However, the approvai for Butendiek was due to expire at the
end of 2011. We needed a new extension quickly, otherwise we
would hâve had no chance of securing loans in our talks with the
banks , says Achim Berge Olsen describing the urgency of the
situation. His team succeeded in convincing the responsible BSH
employées of the seriousness of the wpd plans: in March 2011,
the company from Bremen obtained the requested extension to
the deadline until the end of 201A - without any additional official
conditions. By the end of 2019, the BSH demanded, there had to
be visible signs at Butendiek that construction was progressing
at long last.
------ It was also important for the finance discussions to fmally
clarify the ownership relationships in the Butendiek offshore wind
farm. When it was sold to Airtricity in 2008, the citizens' wind
initiators had agreed a buy-back option with the Irish. After a successful launch, the citizens'wind farm collective would hâve been
able to buy back up to 50 percent of the shares in Butendiek. "No
bank would hâve accepted this passage in any finance arrangement", says wpd Manager, Berge Olsen, decidedly. It was primarily
wpd Chairman, Dr. Blanke, who held intensive negotiations with
thefounding shareholders of the citizens'wind collective in order
to find a solution to this question.
In November 2010, more than 93 percent of the Butendiek
shareholders voted in the end in favour of the sale to wpd and to
give up the buy-back option. An approvai rate of 75 percent would
hâve been sufficient. In the written ballot, the limited partners
only had to vote "Yes" or "No" to a single sentence which ran as
follows: "Conclusion of the wpd contracts is hereby irrevocably
approved". Hans Feddersen, one of the nine founding fathers of
"Butendiek", commented as follows to the local press with regard
to the high level of approvai: "We want Butendiek to be built at
last." The fact that wpd paid the Butendiekers five million euros
to acquire the buy-back option must hâve also piayed a major
rôle in the outcome of the vote: ail the investors later received not
only their risk contribution of 25Ü euros back but a further 200
euros per contribution on top of it. After ail the years of planning
and waiting in vain for construction to start, many shareholders
had already written off their money. To this extent, the sale in
the end was a reconciliatory conclusion for Butendiek's limited
partners to a story that began with the dream of a cooperative
wind farm at sea.
130
and always has been an approved connection to the grid. According to the régulations valid at the time, the responsible Fédéral Network Agency assigned this grid connection twice a year,
and always on the cut-off dates April 1 and September 1, For this,
the potential operators had to perform a sériés of assignments,
or in other words, the agency linked their approvai to numerous
investment decisions for the intended turbines or the internai
cabling on the farm. To obtain the green light from the authorities in Bonn, the owners had to présent signed main contracts of
an offshore wind farm on each cut-off date. As well as the wind
turbines and internai cabling, these included the foundations and
the transformer substation.
THE OFFSHORE TEAM AROUND ACHIM BERGE OLSEN WAS NA~
TURALLY AWARE OF THIS. OPERATION "FAST TRACK" [AS IT
WAS CALLED WITHIN THE COMPANY) STARTED WORK WHICH
WAS ALWAYS GOING TO BE A RACE AGAINST TIME.
Besides the negotiations for the main components, the wpd offshore team around Andree Ifflànder, the responsible head of Project at that important stage, had to overcome two further major
obstacles:
------The Fédéral Maritime and Hydrographie Agency of Germany [BSH] had approved Butendiek for the first time in December
2002. As there had been constant delays, the earlier initiators
had several times requested extensions to the approvai which
were always of limited duration - and also always obtained them.
However, the approvai for Butendiek was due to expire at the
end of 2011. We needed a new extension quickly, otherwise we
would hâve had no chance of securing loans in our talks with the
banks , says Achim Berge Olsen describing the urgency of the
situation. His team succeeded in convincing the responsible BSH
employées of the seriousness of the wpd plans: in March 2011,
the company from Bremen obtained the requested extension to
the deadline until the end of 201A - without any additional official
conditions. By the end of 2019, the BSH demanded, there had to
be visible signs at Butendiek that construction was progressing
at long last.
------ It was also important for the finance discussions to fmally
clarify the ownership relationships in the Butendiek offshore wind
farm. When it was sold to Airtricity in 2008, the citizens' wind
initiators had agreed a buy-back option with the Irish. After a successful launch, the citizens'wind farm collective would hâve been
able to buy back up to 50 percent of the shares in Butendiek. "No
bank would hâve accepted this passage in any finance arrangement", says wpd Manager, Berge Olsen, decidedly. It was primarily
wpd Chairman, Dr. Blanke, who held intensive negotiations with
thefounding shareholders of the citizens'wind collective in order
to find a solution to this question.
In November 2010, more than 93 percent of the Butendiek
shareholders voted in the end in favour of the sale to wpd and to
give up the buy-back option. An approvai rate of 75 percent would
hâve been sufficient. In the written ballot, the limited partners
only had to vote "Yes" or "No" to a single sentence which ran as
follows: "Conclusion of the wpd contracts is hereby irrevocably
approved". Hans Feddersen, one of the nine founding fathers of
"Butendiek", commented as follows to the local press with regard
to the high level of approvai: "We want Butendiek to be built at
last." The fact that wpd paid the Butendiekers five million euros
to acquire the buy-back option must hâve also piayed a major
rôle in the outcome of the vote: ail the investors later received not
only their risk contribution of 25Ü euros back but a further 200
euros per contribution on top of it. After ail the years of planning
and waiting in vain for construction to start, many shareholders
had already written off their money. To this extent, the sale in
the end was a reconciliatory conclusion for Butendiek's limited
partners to a story that began with the dream of a cooperative
wind farm at sea.
130