RWE has received the first foundations for the 1600MW Nordseecluster offshore wind project in the German North Sea.
The eight foundations have arrived and been offloaded in the Dutch base port Eemshaven (pictured). They are around 85 metres long on average and weigh approximately 1500 tonnes each, the equivalent to the weight of around 1000 small cars.
This year, a total of 45 of these monopile foundations will pass through the Buss Terminal in Eemshaven. One of these foundations will support the transformer substation, while the remaining 44 will carry the wind turbines.
The large-scale foundations were manufactured and delivered by Dajin Heavy Industry.
RWE’s chief operating officer for offshore wind Thomas Michel said: “With the delivery and safe unloading of the first foundations by Dajin, we have passed an important milestone on the way to building our Nordseecluster.
“With an overall capacity of around 1.6 gigawatts, it is the largest wind project currently being built off the German coast.
“We need an enormous amount of storage space and an excellent port infrastructure for the construction process – both of which are available at the Buss Terminal Eemshaven.
“We are currently creating synergies by also handling the foundations for our Danish offshore wind farm Thor at this port and will use it as the base for our Dutch OranjeWind project as well.”
Quay, storage and traffic areas totalling more than 260,000 square metres are available in Eemshaven for handling the foundations for the offshore wind projects from RWE.
The Nordseecluster will be built in two stages. Nordseecluster A will have a capacity of 660MW, with 44 wind turbines, while the 60-turbine Nordseecluster B will contribute an additional 900MW.
Beginning in summer, the foundations will be shipped from the base port in Eemshaven out to the construction site at sea, which is located around 50km north of the island of Juist.
The wind turbines for Nordseecluster A will be erected next year and fully connected to the grid at the start of 2027. Nordseecluster B is due to begin commercial operations at the start of 2029.
It is expected that the Nordseecluster project will generate enough green electricity to supply the equivalent of around 1.6 million households.