The OranjeWind joint venture between RWE and TotalEnergies has signed an agreement with Buss Terminal Eemshaven to use the Port of Eemshaven as the base for wind turbine assembly and construction work for the 795 MW offshore wind project in the Dutch North Sea.
Buss Terminal Eemshaven will facilitate the offloading, storage, handling and pre-assembly of major components of the turbines as well as the inter-array cabling for the OranjeWind wind farm, RWE said in a press release on 10 December.
The wind farm will comprise 53 V236-15.0 MW wind turbines to be delivered by Vestas and installed by Jan De Nul at the OranjeWind offshore site, located approximately 278 kilometres from Eemshaven. Wind turbine installation work is scheduled to start in early 2027, with commissioning expected to be fully completed by the end of that same year.
The inter-array cables will be supplied by TKF and installed by DEME Offshore.
Construction activities at the offshore wind site will start in early 2026. While inter-array cabling and wind turbine installation will be carried out from Eemshaven, monopile foundations will be transported directly to the offshore site from Sif’s facility at the Port of Rotterdam. Jan De Nul will also install the project’s foundations.
RWE is using the Port of Eemshaven in the northern Dutch province of Groningen for other offshore wind projects as well.
Currently, the Buss terminal in Eemshaven is handling monopile foundations for the Danish offshore wind farm, Thor, while preparations are being made to support the construction of RWE’s German offshore wind project Nordseecluster A.
The agreement for the OranjeWind project will see a marshalling area of a total of 35-40 hectares (the equivalent of approximately 55 football pitches) being used to accommodate OranjeWind and Nordseecluster B projects concurrently, RWE says.
The OranjeWind offshore wind farm, located around 53 kilometres off the coast of IJmuiden, will have an installed capacity of 795 MW and a grid connection capacity of 760 MW. The additional 35 MW is reserved to optimise connection efficiency, even when production is lower.