Enbw Energie Baden Wuerttemberg : takes over operational management of the transformer platform of the offshore wind farm BARD Offshore 1

Karlsruhe and Munich. As of the beginning of 2017, EnBW is taking over the technical operations of the residential and transformer platform BARD 1 at the North Sea Wind Farm BARD Offshore 1. To this end EnBW Offshore Service GmbH (EOS) has signed a three-year service agreement with the operator and owner of Bard Offshore 1, Ocean Breeze Energy GmbH (OBE).

The first commercial wind farm in the German North Sea, BARD Offshore 1, is one of the offshore industry's pioneer projects. Its operator, Ocean Breeze Energy, had invited tenders for individual services for the wind farm. EnBW was awarded the contract for the technical operation of the transformer platform. It has several years of experience in operating the Baltic Sea wind farms EnBW Baltic 1 and EnBW Baltic 2 and is also to take over the operation of additional planned EnBW wind farms in the North Sea. The immediate vicinity of the EnBW North Sea projects and BARD 1 can also create mutual synergies - during the construction phase and beyond. With the service contract for BARD 1, EnBW is now taking the step towards the third-party supplier market for offshore services in the operations segment. EnBW is already active in the third-party supplier market in terms of the design and construction of offshore wind farms: EnBW employees have been involved in the construction of the Wikinger wind farm of the Spanish energy company Iberdrola for about a year.

'We are very much looking forward to the collaboration, which for our team represents both familiar ground and new terrain. EnBW has been conversant with terrestrial transformer stations for many years, and with marine transformer stations for almost ten years', says Michael Boll, Technical Director EOS. 'What is new for us is the North Sea and that our team will live at high sea', Boll continues, because the transformer station of BARD1 is not only the workplace but also the living accommodation of the EOS team - as well as additional users of the available hotel business.