A milestone was reached in the construction of He Dreiht, currently Germany’s largest offshore wind farm, as EnBW installed all 64 foundations for the project in the North Sea as scheduled.
Heerema’s “Thialf,” one of the world’s largest floating cranes, drove the monopile foundations into the sea bed within three months. The 70-meter-long steel foundations are 9.2 meters in diameter and weigh around 1,350 metric tons each. Transition pieces, which serve as a connecting element between the wind turbine tower and the monopile, were placed on top of the monopiles.
He Dreiht is being built 85 kilometers northwest of Borkum and 110 kilometers west of Helgoland. At peak times, 500 people and 60 vessels work on the construction site.
The latest generation of Vestas wind turbines will be installed starting in spring with a 15 MW capacity each. The wind farm is scheduled to start operation next year with a total capacity of 960 MW.
EnBW secured the contract for the project in 2017, in Germany’s first offshore auction. The company says He Dreiht will not require any state subsidies.
