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26 October 2006 -- REpower announced that it believes the expansion of offshore wind energy in Germany has taken a great step forward: the grand coalition is expected to adopt the so-called Infrastructure Act on this coming Friday.
Among other things, it is supposed to obligate energy companies to assume the costs for connecting offshore wind energy to the power grid. This results in a substantial cost relief for the operators of offshore wind energy turbines, as the costs for connecting to the power grid represent a large part of the investments in offshore projects. This shifting of the costs to grid operators is valid for a limited timeframe; construction of offshore turbines must have begun before 31 December 2011.
REpower said the adoption of this act might eliminate significant hurdles and the backlog in investments that have existed for years in regard to the expansion of wind energy in the German parts of the North Sea and Baltic Sea.
Prof. Fritz Vahrenholt, CEO of REpower Systems AG, is pleased about this development: "With this legislation a new chapter has been opened in the supply of electrical power for Germany. With this, offshore wind power and conventional power plants on land are now on equal terms. Moreover, our customers now have planning security for their offshore projects -- while at the same time the attractiveness of such projects will be increased considerably by the cost reductions of up to 30 percent".
REpower manufactures a 5MW wind energy turbine and specializes in offshore technology. According to the company, wind farms with a total output of more than 5,000 MW have already been approved in the German parts of the North Sea and Baltic Sea.
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