The first wind turbine for 960 MW He Dreiht offshore wind farm, Germany’s largest offshore wind farm currently under construction, has been installed in the North Sea.
He Dreiht is being built roughly 85 kilometers northwest of Borkum and about 110 kilometers west of Helgoland.
The first turbine installation milestone also marks the first use of the Vestas 15 MW wind turbines, which will make up the wind farm, with the 64 foundations already installed in 2024.
He Dreiht is being developed by energy utility EnBW in partnership with the consortium made up of Allianz Capital Partners, AIP and Norges Bank Investment.
Over 60 ships are involved in the construction of the wind farm.
The components were loaded onto the installation vessel Wind Orca in the port of Esbjerg in Denmark. After a twelve-hour journey to the construction site at sea, the ship positioned the first turbine on the foundations already installed in the seabed. Work on the internal wind farm cabling is running alongside the installation of the wind turbines.
Once operational, He Dreiht will be able to supply enough electricity to power 1.1 million households.
“EnBW has been planning, building and operating offshore wind farms in Germany and Europe for over 15 years. EnBW He Dreiht is our largest offshore project to date and is being built without state funding.
“It will play a key role in helping us to achieve our goal of significantly increasing installed output from renewable energies from the current figure of 6.6 GW to over 10 GW by 2030,” said Michael Class, Head of Generation Portfolio Development at EnBW.
“With the installation of the first V236-15.0 MW, we have reached an important milestone for both the He Dreiht project and our offshore ramp-up, which helps Germany build a more secure, affordable and sustainable energy system,” added Nils de Baar, President Vestas Northern & Central Europe.