First turbine installed at Germany's Baltic Eagle wind farm

The first of fifty wind turbines has been successfully installed at the 476MW Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm, a joint venture between Iberdrola and Masdar.

Working in partnership with Vestas, the remaining V174-9.5MW wind turbines will be transported to the offshore construction site in the coming months and then installed using the jack-up vessel Blue Tern owned by Fred. Olsen Windcarrier.

The finished turbines will reach a total height of 194 meters.

Baltic Eagle is on track to become operational by the end of 2024, when it will supply renewable energy to around 475,000 households and reduce emissions by about 800,000 tonnes per year.

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It is located northeast of the island of Rügen off the coast of Pomerania and is planned and operated from the port of Mukran in Sassnitz.

“With the installation of its first wind turbine, Baltic Eagle is taking shape off the German Baltic coast. This marks the start of the final phase in the construction of the offshore wind farm, which is expected to become fully operational later this year," commented Felipe Montero, CEO of Iberdrola Deutschland.

“With the commissioning of Baltic Eagle, the second offshore wind farm in our Baltic Hub, Iberdrola Deutschland continues its growth path, making a significant contribution to Germany’s Energy Transition," added Montero.

Fred. Olsen Windcarrier's jack-up vessel Blue Tern is particularly suitable for the terrain in the Baltic Sea. With its 800-tonne main crane and a variable deck load capacity of 8,750 tonnes, it transports the towers, nacelles and rotor blades to the offshore construction site and erects them on the transition pieces.

Baltic Eagle is the second of three major projects in Germany, along with the Wikinger (350MW, in operation) and Windanker (315MW, entering execution phase) wind farms. Collectively, these offshore wind farms form Iberdrola's so-called Baltic Hub, which will have a total capacity of more than 1.1GW in 2026 and trigger an investment sum of about 3.7 billion euros ($4 billion).

Masdar and Iberdrola signed a strategic agreement in July 2023 to co-invest in Baltic Eagle. At COP28, the two companies announced a further 15 billion euros ($16 billion) strategic partnership agreement to evaluate the joint development of offshore wind and green hydrogen projects in key markets including Germany, the UK and the US.