EnBW has begun construction on the 960 MW He Dreiht offshore wind farm, located in the German North Sea.
The project, set to comprise 64 Vestas turbines, is being built roughly 85 km northwest of Borkum. Sixty ships are slated to be involved in construction.
The floating crane Thialf, is expected to install the first foundations in the seabed. A monopile will be used, upon which a transition piece will be placed, which serves as a connecting element between the tower of the wind turbine and the monopile. The monopiles and transition pieces were loaded onto floating platforms in the Netherlands and towed to the construction site by tugboats. Work on installing all of the foundations is scheduled to continue into summer.
“EnBW will play its part in further accelerating the energy transition in Germany, which is why it wants to invest a total of €40 billion in the energy transition by 2030; the lion’s share of it in Germany,” says Georg Stamatelopoulos, EnBW CEO.
“We are investing around €13 billion alone in constructing wind farms and solar parks as well as flexibly controllable and hydrogen-ready gas power plants. Our aim is to be a climate-neutral company by 2035. The He Dreiht offshore wind farm will play a significant role in helping us to achieve this aim.”
The farm is scheduled to be operational by the end of next year. EnBW will be responsible for the technical and commercial management.
TenneT will connect the wind farm to the grid using an offshore converter station and two HVDC export cables, laid over 120 km underwater and 110 km on land.
A partner consortium made up of Allianz Capital Partners, AIP and Norges Bank Investment Management owns 49.9% of the shares in He Dreiht.
