Germany's first major offshore wind farm is starting to take shape:" The first six wind wheels of the "alpha ventus" wind farm are scheduled to start rotating as soon as fall 2008. The farm will be built 45 kilometers from the North Sea island of Borkum. The local water depth is approximately 30 meters. "Alpha ventus" is a joint venture between E.ON Energy Projects, EWE and Vattenfall Europe. So far, the project has been code-named “Borkum West Test Field."

The operators recently signed an agreement with plant manufacturer Multibrid, which has agreed to deliver half of the 12 planned wind power plants, each rated at 5 megawatts. An additional six plants are to be constructed by Repower. This will allow the project partners to gain operational experience from various power plant variants. The wind farm will have a combined installed capacity of 60 megawatts and is slated for commissioning in summer 2009.