Orsted has secured planning approval from the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) for the 900MW Borkum Riffgrund 3 offshore wind farm off Germany.
Orsted will construct the project together with the 242MW Gode Wind 3 project, which secured approval earlier this year.
Orsted Germany managing director Jorg Kubitza said: “With the planning approval for Borkum Riffgrund 3, both of our future German projects are well on the way to being implemented.
“Taken together, we will then commission an additional 1142 MW in Germany, the largest offshore wind installation we will have constructed in Germany.”
He said Borkum Riffgrund 3 is the first offshore wind farm for which Orsted has concluded large-volume electricity supply contracts with several companies.
The plan approval procedure is a legally regulated procedure for the approval of offshore wind farms.
It included the participation of the public and public bodies, as well as an environmental impact assessment.
Originally Orsted was awarded the projects in the offshore wind auctions of the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) in 2017 and 2018 as Borkum Riffgrund West 1, Borkum Riffgrund West 2 and OWP West.
The three project companies were merged under the name Borkum Riffgrund 3 in 2019.
Corporate offtakers include REWE Group.
In addition, Orsted has sold a 50% stake in the project to investor Glennmont Partners.
The project will comprise 83 11MW Siemens Gamesa turbines 53 km off the island of Borkum.
The wind farm will go into full commercial operation in 2025, while Gode Wind 3 is expected to start operating as early as 2024.
A final investment decision by Orsted for both projects is still pending and is expected for the end of 2021.