German utility EnBW has installed 32 of the 64 wind turbines planned for its 960 megawatt He Dreiht offshore wind farm in the North Sea, marking the halfway point in construction of what it says is its largest offshore project to date.
The company said the project is the first commercial deployment of Vestas’s 15 megawatt offshore wind turbines. Installation vessel Wind Orca has been transporting components for three turbines at a time from the port of Esbjerg in Denmark to the offshore site.
“He Dreiht is our largest offshore project to date – and it is being built entirely without state funding,” said Peter Heydecker, EnBW board member responsible for sustainable generation infrastructure. “For more than 15 years, we at EnBW have been driving the advancement of offshore wind energy.”
The He Dreiht wind farm is located around 85 kilometres northwest of the island of Borkum and about 110 kilometres west of Heligoland in the German North Sea.
EnBW said it plans to complete installation and commission all turbines by the summer of 2026. The project represents an investment of around 2.4 billion euros ($2.6 billion).
A consortium comprising Allianz, AIP and Norges Bank Investment Management owns a combined 49.9% stake in the wind farm, while EnBW retains the remaining majority interest.
“With every new milestone, we are moving one step closer to a sustainable energy future,” Heydecker said.
