REpower and the City of Qingdao sign Memorandum of Understanding for offshore wind farm in China

Qingdao/Hamburg, 12 January 2006. On the occasion of the 2nd Sino -German Environmental Forum in the city of Qingdao, today REpower Systems AG, REpower’s Chinese partner Dongfang Steam Turbine Works and the Municipality of Qingdao have signed a Memorandum of Under- standing (MoU) about the establishment of one of the first offshore wind farms in Asia. This event took place in the presence of Chinese Vice Minister of the Environment, Zhu Guangyao, and German Vice Minister of the Environment, Mathias Machnig.

The demonstrator project contains five REpower 5M-class turbines which are due to be installed in spring 2008 next to the venue of the Olympic sailing events. The water depth at the location is approximately 20 meters. The 5M is currently the world’s largest wind turbine with a rotor diameter of 126 meters and a swept area of the size of two soccer pitches.

The city Qingdao, formerly a German colony and today one of China’s leading seaports and industrial cities, promised to give broad support to the project. “Qingdao already considers the project as its technological figurehead and new landmark. Besides, the city possesses an excellent maritime infrastructure”, said REpower’s CEO Prof. Fritz Vahrenholt in Qingdao. “With such a partner, we are confident that we can overcome the obstacles of the approval process and realise the project in the remaining short-time period before the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008.”