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About RAVE

About RAVE

The research initiative for the first offshore wind farm project in Germany

In the year 2006: 4 years after the Publication of the strategy of the Federal Government for the use of wind energy at sea, no wind energy plant in Germany has got wet feet yet. The Federal Government decides to support offshore wind energy through a research initiative and the construction of an offshore test field: RAVE is born.

In order to advance offshore wind energy in Germany, RAVE starts with four goals:

Proof of the offshore suitability of the 5 MW turbines
Further development of the system technology
Investigation of open questions about offshore wind energy use
Expansion of research potential in Germany

These goals have been achieved for a long time: The 5 MW asset class is turning over a large proportion of all offshore wind farms. The system technology has been decisively developed and prototypes of up to 12 MW were built. Turbines up to 15MW are in preparation. In more than 35 research projects, knowledge has been developed and solutions found for a wide range of open issues in offshore wind energy utilization. The research landscape in Germany is large, diverse and internationally recognized.

Today, the focus is on new goals: reducing the cost of offshore wind energy and reducing technical risk. This brings new research questions to topics such as optimization of operation and reliability in the foreground. In addition, the vast wealth of data collected in RAVE enables many fundamental scientific questions to be dealt with.

Timeline

2002 Federal Government Strategy on Wind Energy Use at Sea

2005 The offshore foundation is founded and acquires the project rights for the offshore test field

2006 The operating company DOTI is founded by EWE, E.ON and Vattenfall

2007 The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) launches the RAVE research initiative (Research at alpha ventus). The first RAVE projects start work.

2008 Launch event of the RAVE initiative. Planning of the measurement technology for the RAVE projects begins. The offshore grid connection will be established and the offshore substation will be erected.

2009 All 12 offshore wind turbines are installed. RAVE measuring systems for AREVA Wind M5000 are put into operation.

2010 The offshore wind farm alpha ventus officially opens. RAVE measuring systems are put into operation for REpower 5M.

2011 RAVE Film publishes 'Offshore Park Research - RAVE Research at alpha ventus'

2012 First Offshore R & D Conference, 7 research projects publish their results

2015 Second Offshore R & D Conference, Publication of the RAVE book 'Sea Wind Power'

2018 Third Offshore R & D Conference

2020 10 year anniversary of alpha ventus

Wind farm alpha ventus

First German offshore test field

The offshore test field alpha ventus was built in 2009 as the first German offshore wind farm with a coastline distance of 60km and water depth of 30m. It consists of six 5v wind turbines from Senvion, six M5000 wind turbines by Adwen and one offshore substation. The research platform FINO1 with its 100 m high measuring mast is located in the immediate vicinity of the wind farm to the west.

RAVE - Coordination & Measurements

Organization of the research cooperation at the alpha ventus test center and central implementation of the measurements in the context of the RAVE research projects

The coordination of RAVE research is in the hands of Fraunhofer IWES. This includes coordinating the diverse research projects among each other, but in particular also coordinating research with the wind farm operator and the manufacturers of the plants. RAVE carries out an extremely extensive measuring program for all research projects. In total, more than 1200 measurement channels are recorded, with all measurements taken centrally in the hands of the BSH. More information about quality control of RAVE measurements can be found here.

Contact:

Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES

Am Seedeich 45

D-27572 Bremerhaven

E-Mail

Location alpha ventus — Location of alpha ventus ©Erneuerbare Energien

Wind Europe Electric City 2021 RAVE Poster — RAVE Poster Wind Europe Electric City 2021

The first German offshore wind farm alpha ventus ©Matthias Ibeler

Partner

The partners of RAVE are made up of the alpha ventus participants and the partners of the research projects.

The following partners are responsible for offshore wind farms and offshore wind farms: the German Offshore Test Field and Infrastructure GmbH & Co. KG (DOTI), a merger of EWE, RWE and Vattenfall. SGRE (formerly Senvion, REPower and formerly Adwen, Multibrid, Areva Wind) is in the boat as manufacturers of the wind turbines. The rights to the wind farm are the responsibility of the German Offshore Foundation.

The research projects carried out under the RAVE initiative have been carried out by a total of 60 partners. The RAVE initiative is coordinated by the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems and is carried out by the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH). The largest research partners are the universities of Hannover, Oldenburg and Stuttgart.

The following overview shows the RAVE partners: