For years, Germanys ambitious effort to generate bountiful electricity with wind farms rising from the deep blue sea has been drowning in red ink. Now, investors like Blackstone Group LP and suppliers like Siemens AG are looking to buck that trend.多年来德国雄心勃勃的研发海上风电的计划举步维艰，仍然正处于亏损之中。现在像黑石集团(Blackstone)这样的投资者以及西门子(Siemens AG)等供应商则期望挽回这一势头。Offshore wind holds enormous potential for plentiful, environmentally friendly energy because the open sea is almost always windy. But ever since Germany started planning investments in the sector -- around the start of the century -- obstacles have piled up, including a lack of component suppliers and the absence of equipment needed to link turbines to the national power grid. Even the ships needed for construction out in open water were unavailable.由于大海上完全总是有风，因此海风具备研发非常丰富且环保电力资源的极大潜力。但自从德国在本世纪初开始规划海上风电项目投资以来，遭遇了重重阻力，还包括缺乏配件供应商、没相连风力涡轮和国家电网所需的设备。
即便是在对外开放水域建设所需的船只也不得而知取得。As a result, early offshore-wind projects blew through budgets and schedules because developers had to invest billions of dollars in ports, special barges and power connections.因此早期的海上风电项目支出相当严重微克，投产也被延后，因为开发商必须为港口、专用船只及电力相连设备投放数十亿美元。Siemens, the worlds largest manufacturer of offshore wind turbines, and its partners concede they underestimated the challenges behind offshore wind. The financial fallout from these challenges was highlighted last week, when Siemens said it booked 128 million euros ($171 million) in new charges related to connecting offshore wind farms to the power grid. It blamed unexpectedly high costs for shipping, installing and starting up grid components.全球第一大海上风电涡轮生产商西门子及其合作伙伴否认，他们高估了海上风电项目背后的挑战。
上周这些挑战对财务的影响获得了印证。西门子回应，公司新的算入1.28亿欧元（合1.71亿美元）与相连海上风电场和电网涉及的开支。西门子称之为运输、加装以及启动涡轮组件的成本高达了预期。
They say, however, that they managed to learn new skills in the process.不过该公司回应，在这一过程中他们教给了新的技能。Private-equity firm Blackstone and German project developer WindMW have invested 1.2 billion euros in the Meerwind -- German for sea wind -- project, more than 50 miles (about 85 kilometers) off Germanys coast on the North Sea. Meerwind, which counts 80 massive Siemens turbines, is expected to start delivering electricity late this year -- about a year behind schedule.投资基金股权公司黑石集团和德国项目开发商WindMW已在这个坐落于北海、距离德国海岸50多英里（约合85公里）的海上风电项目上投放了12亿欧元。
这个取名为Meerwind的项目共计80个大型西门子涡轮机，预计将在今年底开始发电，比原订时间延期了一年左右。Building Meerwind proved daunting, despite its relatively shallow waters. Engineers had to anchor foundations for turbines, transformers and converter stations more than 130 feet beneath the surface, which proved far more difficult than expected.虽然正处于浅水，但Meerwind的建设出现异常艰苦。工程师必需将涡轮机、变压器和换流站的底座相同在水面以下130多英尺处。
这个过程的可玩性被证明比预期小得多。Another problem was wiring the system to move gigawatts from the sea to consumers on land. This requires offshore converter stations the size of factories, which Siemens builds at a price of around 1 billion euros each.另一个问题是给这个系统装有电线，以便将海上放的电运送给陆地的消费者。
这必须建设规模有工厂那么大的海上换流站。每辟一个换流站赚到西门子约10亿欧元。Siemens says delays in manufacturing and preparing the converters have cost it roughly 900 million euros in the past two years, including the latest charges announced Thursday. The company finally installed the last two stations in July.西门子称之为，过去两年在生产和打算换流站方面的推迟使公司损失近9亿欧元，其中还包括周四宣告计提的开支。西门子在7月份再一加装完了最后两个换流站。
Tim Dawidowsky, chief executive of Siemenss electricity-transmission unit, said Siemens has nearly doubled the amount of time allotted to build offshore converter stations to five years.西门子电缆子公司的首席执行长Tim Dawidowsky说道，西门子为修建离岸换流站决定的时间减至五年，缩短了近一倍。Despite its challenges, wind power remains a crucial element in Germanys strategy to replace nuclear and fossil-fuel plants with more environmental sources. The countrys exit from nuclear energy was speeded up after a tsunami crippled Japans Fukushima nuclear plant in March 2011. Germany closed eight of its oldest nuclear plants immediately following the disaster and plans to close the other nine by 2022.尽管不存在上述挑战，但在德国用更加环保电力来源代替核电厂和化石燃料电厂的策略中，风电仍占据最重要地位。在2011年3月海啸造成日本福岛核电站再次发生事故后，德国减缓了解散核电的步伐。福岛核电站事故再次发生后，德国立刻重开了八座最老旧的核电站，并计划到2022年重开余下九座核电站。
Other wind farms, including the Nordsee Ost project developed by German utility RWE AG, are under construction.其他风电站在建设中，还包括德国公共事业公司RWE AG研发的Nordsee Ost项目。Last year, renewable energies accounted for 24% of Germanys power generation. And with a share of more than one third of that, wind energy is by far the biggest generator of green electricity in the country, according to energy lobby BDEW.去年，可再生能源发电量占到德国发电量的24%。能源业游说团体BDEW说道，风电占到德国可再生能源发电量的比例多达三分之一，是德国“绿色”电力的仅次于来源。
Offshore wind only accounts for a fraction -- less than 1% -- of the Germanys renewable-energy generation, but the densely populated country already has allocated its most promising onshore wind spots, leading investors to look to the sea.海上风力发电在德国再生能源发电中仅有占到较小的一部分──将近1%，然而在这个人口密集的国家，最有前景的陆上风力发电项目早已瓜分完，所以投资者们不得已将目光投向海上风力发电。To date, Germany has an offshore capacity of around 630 megawatts of offshore wind power and plans to boost that tenfold by 2020 to 6.5 gigawatts. By 2030, it aims for offshore capacity of 15 gigawatts.迄今为止，德国的海上风力发电量大约为630兆瓦，德国计划使海上风力发电能力到2020年提升到10倍，超过6.5千兆瓦；到2030年超过15千兆瓦。
Technological challenges behind offshore wind may be shrinking, but the economics remain daunting. One kilowatt-hour of electricity generated offshore costs up to 18 European cents, compared with 11 cents for solar power and 8 cents for onshore wind. Coal and gas plants generate electricity for as little as 4 cents per kwh.海上风力发电在技术上日益成熟期，但从经济角度来考虑到，仍令人犹豫。海上风力发电的成本最低平均0.18欧元/度，而太阳能发电和陆上风力发电的成本产于为0.11欧元和0.08欧元，煤炭和天然气发电的成本则较低约0.04欧元。
Long-term subsidy programs need to be in place to cover this gap, said Magnus Dale, senior analyst at consultancy IHS Energy in Paris.咨询机构IHS Energy的高级分析师戴尔(Magnus Dale)回应，要填补以上差距必须有长年补贴项目。Germany is offering long-term support to the sector, guaranteeing subsidies for offshore wind farms for up to 12 years, despite having slashed its capacity target through 2030 by 40% as part of an effort to curb spiraling costs.德国正在向该行业获取长年反对，为海上风电场获取最久12年的补贴，尽管该国早已把到2030年的装机容量目标上调了40%，以遏止大大下降的成本。The country still expects total renewables subsidies to rise to around 24 billion euros this year, a bill that electricity consumers are paying through a surcharge on their power bills.德国仍预计，今年可再生能源补贴总额将升到约240亿欧元，而这笔钱将由电力消费者买单──通过额外缴纳电费的形式。
The industry believes that further industrialization and technological progress will help reduce the cost of offshore wind.该行业指出，工业化的更进一步发展和科技的变革，将有助缩减海上风力发电的成本。Michael Hannibal, head of Siemenss wind-power division, said the offshore industry aims to cut costs by around 40% by 2020. This would still be around 35% higher than onshore wind today -- and 2.7 times more expensive than coal and gas -- but more reductions are expected to follow. To achieve this, Siemens is looking to develop bigger and more efficient wind turbines.西门子风电部门的负责人汉尼拔(Michael Hannibal)称之为，海上业务的目标是到2020年将成本减少40%左右。预计这一成本水平仍将比现今的陆地风电成本要低35%左右，比煤炭和天然气发电成本高达1.7倍，但是预计未来还将之后上升。为了构建这一目标，西门子正在考虑到研发更大、更加高效的风力涡轮机。
Siemenss biggest wind generator has a capacity of 6 megawatts but the company needs to begin looking at 8 MWs, said Mr. Hannibal. Rivals Areva SA and Vestas A/S already offer 8 MW units.汉尼拔称之为，西门子仅次于风力发电机的装机容量是6兆瓦，但是该公司必须开始考虑到8兆瓦的机组。西门子的竞争对手阿海珐(Areva SA)和维斯塔斯(Vestas A/S)早已有8兆瓦的产品了。
Over the long-term, the goal is to bring down cost, so that offshore wind can compete with coal and gas, Mr. Hannibal said.汉尼拔称之为，长年目标是降低成本，使得海上风力发电可以与煤、气发电竞争。
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