On 2 February 2005 the former Federal Environment Minister Jürgen Trittin, CEO Prof. Fritz Vahrenholt and COO Matthias Schubert pressed the symbolic starting button to mark the beginning of automatic operation of the REpower 5M in Brunsbüttel, Germany.
A year later, REpower is reporting its success, with an average availability of 95.1% during the prototype’s first year of operation. Two further 5Ms are due to be constructed for customers E.ON/Essent and the Lower Saxony energy supplier EWE at the DEWI OCC test site in Cuxhaven, where it will be possible to test offshore deployment under favourable wind conditions and obtain comparative data. In summer 2006, the 5M is likely to be going offshore: two turbines are expected to be assembled at a depth of 44 metres, 25 kilometres from the Scottish coast, in the Moray Firth.
