RWE has finished installing all 72 monopile foundations at the 1-gigawatt (GW) Thor offshore wind farm in the Danish North Sea, the company said on Wednesday.
The installation, carried out over five months using Jan De Nul’s vessel Les Alizés, marks a key milestone in the construction of Denmark’s largest offshore wind farm to date.
Tobias Keitel, chief technology officer at RWE Offshore Wind, said: “Together with our partner, Norges Bank Investment Management, we are well on track with the construction of Thor. The safe installation of the monopiles is testament to the expertise, dedication and collaboration of the entire team involved.”
The monopiles, measuring up to 100 metres in length and weighing around 1,500 tonnes each, were transported from the port of Eemshaven in the Netherlands to the site approximately 22 kilometres off the Jutland coast.
Secondary steel structures, including boat landings, are expected to be installed later this year from the Danish port of Thyboron.
RWE highlighted the use of innovative reusable hard covers to protect the monopiles until turbine towers are mounted next year, a measure designed to reduce waste and promote circularity.
Turbine installation, commencing from the Port of Esbjerg, is scheduled to begin in 2026. The Thor project will be the first offshore wind farm to feature steel towers manufactured with a lower carbon footprint, and half of the turbines will be equipped with recyclable blades.
When operational in 2027, the wind farm is expected to supply clean energy equivalent to the needs of more than one million Danish households.
Thor is jointly owned by RWE (51%) and Norges Bank Investment Management (49%) and will be operated from a new service base in Thorsminde, creating up to 60 local jobs.
