RWE has completed the installation of two offshore substations at its Nordseecluster A wind farm site in the German North Sea.
The platforms, each around 40 metres long and 22 metres high, were manufactured by Chantiers de l’Atlantique at its yard in Saint-Nazaire, France, and were placed onto their foundations by Scaldis using its floating heavy-lift crane vessel Gulliver .
The substation foundations were installed last year by Heerema Marine Contractors’ semi-submersible crane vessel (SSCV) Sleipnir .
Offshore construction of Nordseecluster A is progressing according to plan, according to RWE, which owns the offshore wind farm together with Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM).
Foundation installation was completed in late 2025, inter-array cable installation is currently underway, while turbine installation is scheduled to begin in summer 2026.
Nordseecluster A, the first phase of the 1.6 GW Nordseecluster project, will comprise 44 Vestas V236-15.0 MW wind turbines and deliver a total installed capacity of 660 MW once fully commissioned in early 2027.
The second phase, Nordseecluster B, is set to add a further 900 MW through the installation of 60 additional turbines, with commissioning planned from 2029. Planning approval for this phase was granted by Germany’s Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency at the end of March, enabling offshore works to begin next year. Manufacturing of several key components is already in progress.
Once fully completed, the 1.6 GW Nordseecluster will be capable of generating enough renewable electricity to supply the equivalent of around 1.6 million German households, according to RWE.