WeserWind GmbH sets milestone with first offshore tripod

Bremerhaven Germany, 7 April 2006. The Bremerhaven company WeserWind GmbH Offshore Construction Georgsmarienhütte (WeserWind GmbH) have begun construction on the world’s first tripod for offshore wind turbines in the town at the mouth of the Weser river. The second Multibrid M5000, with a rated power of five megawatts, will be installed onto the foundation structure at an onshore site. The three-legged steel construction, weighing approximately 500 tonnes, was commissioned by Multibrid. Dirk Kassen, Managing Director of WeserWind GmbH, emphasises “that the tripod represents an important step into deeper waters. With the construction of an onshore test location, we can gain experience for the future series production.” WeserWind GmbH will be reporting on the company’s development of a low-cost production of offshore tripods at the conference ‘windforce06 – course offshore’ organised by the Wind Energy Agency Bremerhaven/Bremen (WAB).

The design and certification of the foundation structure were carried out by the Offshore Wind und Technologie GmbH (OWT), the Germanischer Lloyd WindEnergy GmbH and the local test engineer Mr. Heitmann from KSF Feld & Partner. New and innovative solutions, like this tripod, are necessary for waters which are more than 25 metres deep. Wind turbines can only withstand the forces of the sea with these kinds of structures.

21 speakers from four countries will be presenting their most recent developments and the next steps towards the open seas at the WAB-conference ‘windforce06 – course offshore’ on the 29th and 30th of June 2006 take place in Bremerhaven, Germany. German and other European project developers will be speaking about the projects’ progress in the North and Baltic Seas. Experts from banks and insurance companies as well as from the offshore oil and gas sector will be examining the projects economic requirements. Energy supply companies and institutes will be looking at the role which offshore wind energy will play in the future energy supply. Visitors to the offshore conference can take an excursion to see the world’s three largest wind turbines Multibrid M5000, Repower 5M and Enercon E112 in Bremerhaven and Cuxhaven.

Georgsmarienhütte Holding GmbH is a group of 42 companies from the steel sector, including WeserWind GmbH Offshore Construction Georgsmarienhütte. WeserWind GmbH is one of the 150 members of the extensive WAB network, which is providing financial support for the offshore conference 2006. Other sponsors are: GE Wind Energy GmbH, Hochtief Construction AG and Ambau GmbH – Stahl- und Anlagenbau. The conference will be taking place in media cooperation with the magazine Energie&Management.

The Federal Minister for the Environment Sigmar Gabriel is patron of the event.

The WAB is supported by the state of Bremen and the EU. In addition, the conference is receiving support from the Bremerhaven town council’s event fund.

Please direct any questions about this press release to:

text+pr, Nadja Niestädt, Tel. +49 421 565 17 22, Fax +49 421 565 17 11,

E-mail: niestaedt@mueller-text-pr.de

The conference programme and a registration form can be found at http://www.windenergie-agentur.de

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