The role of offshore wind power generation is becoming more and more important. In Europe alone, its potential is estimated at over 100 gigawatts. At present, only about two percent of that potential is utilized. In addition, offshore wind turbines will play an important role in meeting European targets for reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Offshore wind turbines generate more electricity than those on land because the wind at sea is typically stronger and more constant than onshore. Of course, this advantage is associated with certain challenges that pose themselves for both manufacturers and operators of offshore wind farms as a result of the nature of the location. The installation and maintenance of turbines located in or on the water is just as demanding as the requirements made of the quality and robustness of components and equipment. The more than 60-meter-high towers carry an average load of about 300 tons, and the rotor blades, which are up to 50 meters long, turn at their tips at speeds of as much as 220 kilometers per hour. They are cast in one piece. Their flexibility gives the system its enormous stability, because they can survive even strong storms.

Siemens‘ partners profit from the fact that Siemens offers not just the turbine types SWT-2.3 and SWT-3.6, which are suitable for offshore wind turbines, but also all other key components needed along the entire value chain for power generation and distribution – all from a single source. That includes solutions for feeding the generated power into national grids as well as intelligent forms of power distribution. The NetConverter® power conversion system, a standard component of all wind power solutions from Siemens, enables highly flexible generator operation and helps adapt the power output to the needs of the various grids.

As far as power capacity is concerned, Siemens has topped its own records again and again since installing the first turbines in 1991 in Denmark's Vindeby wind farm pilot project, which are still all running problem-free today. Take the 200 MW wind farm Horns Rev II in Denmark, for example, whose capacity will be exceeded in 2012 by the British Greater Gabbard project, a 500 MW wind farm with 140 Siemens wind turbines in the North Sea. And the planning has already begun for the world’s first project in an entirely new dimension – with Siemens as a partner: Thanks to its potential total capacity of 4 GW, the Hornsea wind farm off the English coast would be able to supply three million households with environmentally friendly electricity beginning in 2020.