The first 11 MW wind turbine has been successfully installed at the “Gode Wind 3” offshore wind farm. A further 22 turbines will follow.
The currently most powerful and largest turbine in German waters is now feeding electricity into the transmission grid, according to wind farm operator Ørsted. The “Gode Wind 3” offshore wind farm is located around 32 km off the island of Norderney. [ds_preview]
The first of the new mega-turbines from Siemens Gamesa was installed by the installation vessel “Wind Osprey” from Cadeler. It has been producing electricity since yesterday. With a rated output of 11 MW and a rotor diameter of 200 m, the SG 11.0-200 DD is currently the largest turbine in the German North Sea.
In the coming weeks, 22 further turbines will be installed and commissioned in the wind farm. In addition to Cadeler, the installation ship “Seaway Ventus” from Seaway7 will also be responsible for the installation.
Offshore wind farm supplies a quarter of a million households
“The project is the energy transition in action, a genuine European cooperation with international suppliers and partners,” says Jörg Kubitza, Managing Director of Ørsted in Germany. The new generation of turbines makes it possible to produce green electricity even more efficiently and on a larger scale.
However, Ørsted manager Kubitza sees major challenges for the future expansion of offshore wind in Germany. It is important. Production and port capacities need to be expanded sensibly now so that the high expansion targets can be achieved together.
The electricity generated in “Gode Wind 3” is fed into the park’s own offshore transformer station, from where it is then forwarded to the converter station of the transmission system operator TenneT. It is then transported to the coast of Lower Saxony, to Hilgenriedersiel in East Frisia.
In total, “Gode Wind 3” will have an installed capacity of 253 MW. The green electricity generated there is equivalent to the consumption of a quarter of a million German households. The offshore wind farm is owned equally by Nuveen Infrastructure and Ørsted.
Mega turbines from the offshore plant in Cuxhaven
The new generation of turbines reportedly offers up to 40% higher annual energy yield compared to the previous 8 MW model. The nacelles were manufactured at the Cuxhaven plant of the manufacturer Siemens Gamesa. The rotor blades are manufactured at the Aalborg site in Denmark.
After pre-assembly, the components are shipped to the wind farm from Esbjerg in Denmark. In addition to the 23 wind turbines for “Gode Wind”, a further 83 turbines for the immediately adjacent Ørsted project “Borkum Riffgrund 3” (913 MW) will be prepared for installation here. The manufacturer Prysmian is supplying the cables required for the inner farm connection from its factory in Nordenham.
