100 km off the coast, foundations installed at depths of 40 meters, salt, sun, storms, and strong waves: Off-shore wind turbines operate under extreme conditions, requiring all components to be extra powerful and extra maintenance-friendly. However, good returns and a low environmental impact win through. A total of 8.000 approval processes for wind turbines are currently underway in the North and Baltic Seas alone. The European Wind Energy Association /typo3/predicts that Europe will get around 150 gigawatts of power from off-shore wind farms by 2030.
At the same time, efficiency levels in off-shore power plants are continuing to rise. While older turbines supply three MW, cutting-edge, high-power turbines can now generate as much as eight MW. However, a large proportion of the power produced with a standard generator voltage of 1.000 volts is then lost again during transmission. Increasing the voltage can reduce this effect. As a result, a new rule will apply to the high seas in future: Voltage levels are rising.