RWE has reached the halfway point in installing monopile foundations for the 1GW Thor offshore wind farm in the Danish North Sea.
According to RWE, 36 of the project’s 72 monopiles are now in place, marking a major milestone in the €3 billion development.
Thor, located 22 kilometres off the west coast of Jutland, is set to become Denmark’s largest offshore wind farm when completed.
Sven Utermöhlen, CEO of RWE Offshore Wind, said: “With Thor we are constructing Denmark’s largest offshore wind farm to date. Reaching halfway in the safe installation of the monopiles is a great achievement. My thanks go to all colleagues and partners involved for their contribution.”
Each monopile measures around 100 metres in length and weighs up to 1500 tonnes-roughly equivalent to 1000 small cars, RWE said.
The foundations are shipped from the Dutch port of Eemshaven, while secondary steel structures such as boat landings and platforms are handled via the Danish Port of Thyboron, which also hosts RWE’s construction logistics centre.
RWE stated that the Thor project includes several sustainability features. These include reused monopile hard covers, CO2-reduced steel towers for 36 of the turbines, and recyclable rotor blades fitted to half of the machines.
Wind turbine installation is scheduled to begin from the Port of Esbjerg in 2026.
Once fully operational in 2027, Thor will produce enough green electricity to power more than one million Danish homes, according to RWE.
The operations and maintenance phase is expected to create between 50 and 60 local jobs at a new service hub currently under construction in the Port of Thorsminde. RWE said the building will be completed by the end of 2025.
The 1080MW project is being developed by RWE and Norges Bank Investment Management, which hold stakes of 51% and 49% respectively. RWE is leading the construction and will operate the wind farm over its lifetime.
RWE currently operates 19 offshore wind farms worldwide, including the 207MW Rodsand 2 project south of Lolland in Denmark.
In addition to Thor, the company is constructing three other large-scale offshore wind projects: the 1.4GW Sofia project in the UK, the 1.6GW Nordseecluster in Germany, and the 795MW OranjeWind project in the Netherlands.