Iberdrola’s €1bn 315MW Windanker offshore wind project in the German Baltic Sea has secured supply chain contracts and progressed to the delivery phase.
All supply chain contracts for major components are now locked-in for the project and fabrication work is set to get underway in July 2024.
The Windanker project will support more than 1200 jobs in construction, working with 130 different suppliers located across 22 countries.
A total of 20 vessels will be involved in delivering the project.
Iberdrola aims to fully commission Windanker in 2026, which forms part of a wider offshore wind push where the developer is investing €8.4bn in offshore wind between 2024 and 2026.
The developer has selected to use 21 next-generation offshore wind turbines, each with an output of around 15MW amongst the most powerful available on the market.
Iberdrola recently fully energised the 496MW Saint-Brieuc project in France and achieved first power generation at both the 804MW Vineyard Wind 1 project in the US and the 476MW Baltic Eagle project, also in Germany.
Construction has also started at the East Anglia 3 offshore project in the UK, the company’s largest ever wind energy project globally with a capacity of 1400MW.
Of the €15.5bn to be invested in renewables as part of Iberdrola’s strategic plan up to the end of 2026, around €8.4bn (54% of the total) is being committed to offshore wind.
This will help the company to grow its offshore wind capacity by more than 160% in just three years, from 1800MW in 2023 to 4800MW in 2026.
All of Windanker’s generation is already sold to industrial and commercial customers through long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs).
Ignacio Galan, Executive Chairman of Iberdrola, said: “This positive progress on Windanker is another pleasing milestone for Iberdrola in our most active year ever for delivering offshore wind.
“In 2024 we have been constructing major projects in four countries, including two now active in Germany, with billions of euros being invested to support thousands of jobs across hundreds of suppliers in dozens of countries.
“Offshore wind is a key technology for our clean energy growth in the years ahead, with all capacity from these projects secured via long-term PPA contracts or supported by government mechanisms.
“All our construction activity across the world is progressing well, and we look forward to adding Windanker to our portfolio of operational projects by the end of 2026.”
Windanker is one of three large-scale projects in Germany that will form part of Iberdrola’s “Baltic Hub”.
The company already operates the 350MW Wikinger wind farm and is finishing the construction of the 467MW Baltic Eagle project (a joint venture with Masdar), which will be completed in 2024.
Together, these offshore wind farms will have a total capacity of more than 1.1GW in 2026, with combined investment of around €3.7bn.