Vestas and EnBW Make He Dreiht Offshore Wind Turbine Order Official

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October 2, 2023, by Adnan Durakovic

Vestas has secured a firm order to deliver 64 V236-15.0 MW wind turbines for the 960 MW He Dreiht offshore wind farm in the German North Sea.

Vestas will also deliver a five-year Active Output Management 5000 (AOM 5000) service agreement followed by a long-term Operational Support Agreement.

”We are delighted to announce this firm order for our offshore wind turbine V236-15.0 MW and are honoured to deliver this important milestone on Germany’s ambitious wind energy targets together with our partner EnBW,” said Nils de Baar, President of Vestas Northern & Central Europe.

”I am very proud of our team, which has worked with great diligence and commitment on our flagship wind turbine over several years. Our thanks go to EnBW for their confidence in our technology and the close cooperation since the beginning of the planning, and I am looking forward to seeing the V236-15.0 MW standing in the German North Sea soon.”

This firm order intake follows the announced preferred supplier agreement on 9 July 2021 and the conditional offer on 7 June 2022.

”Since our pioneer wind farm Baltic 1 more than ten years ago, the technical performance of the turbines have increased sixfold. We will use Vestas’ modern and cost-efficient turbine technology which will enable us to realise He Dreiht without subsidies,” said Jörn Däinghaus, project director of EnBW He Dreiht.

”We look forward to working with Vestas – a partner in whom we have great confidence.”

The project has a grid connection capacity of 900 MW and an excess capacity of 60 MW in order to use the connection capacity as efficiently as possible, even when production is lower.

Installation is planned to begin in the second quarter of 2025, and commissioning is scheduled for the fourth quarter of the same year.

The V236-15.0 MW was the first ever 15 MW turbine to be introduced to the market in February 2021 and the installation of the prototype turbine was completed in December 2022 where the turbine also successfully produced its first kWh of power. The prototype is currently undergoing a test and verification programme to ensure reliability before full-type certification. The serial production of the model is scheduled to start in 2024.

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He Dreiht is located 85 kilometres northwest of the Island of Borkum and 110 kilometres west of Heligoland.

Once operational in 2025, He Dreiht will generate green electricity for the equivalent of 1.1 million German households.

EnBW is the majority owner (50.1 per cent) and the developer of the project. The consortium consisting of Allianz Capital Partners on behalf of Allianz insurance companies, AIP and Norges Bank, holds the remaining 49.9 per cent in the wind farm.

EnBW has so far signed several long-term Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) for He Dreith with Evonik, separately for 100 MW and 50 MW, Fraport AG for 85 MW, Bosch for 50 MW, Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH for 50 MW, and Deutsche Bahn.