EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg (EnBW) and its partners Allianz, AIP Management and Norges Bank Investment Management have inaugurated the 960MW He Dreiht offshore wind farm in the German North Sea.
The project, which comprises 64 turbines installed last month, is being commissioned in stages, with operations expected in the coming months.
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He Dreiht is located around 85km north-west of Borkum and 110km west of Heligoland.
The first turbines are supplying electricity to the grid, while the rest are being brought online in stages.
He Dreiht was built without state funding and is financed through long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs).
EnBW holds a 50.1% stake through a project company. The remaining 49.9% is owned by a consortium comprising Allianz Global Investors (on behalf of Allianz entities), AIP Management and Norges Bank Investment Management. Total investment is approximately $2.75bn (€2.4bn).
The wind farm is expected to generate enough electricity to cover the annual needs of the equivalent of around 1.1 million households.
The contractual partners for the PPAs include Evonik, Google, the Telekom subsidiary PASM, Fraport and Bosch, in addition to Salzgitter, SHS Stahl-Holding Saar, Deutsche Bahn and DHL Group.
EnBW board of management chairman Georg Stamatelopoulos said: “In recent years, we have invested billions in the expansion of renewable energies. He Dreiht is the largest single investment made by EnBW in renewables.
“It is also a perfect example of how renewable energy can prevail on the market when the underlying conditions are right.”
Construction of the wind farm began in May 2024. At peak times, more than 500 people worked on the site, and more than 60 ships were involved, with operations coordinated by EnBW’s offshore office in Hamburg.
The supply chain included the manufacture of the 64 foundations in Germany.
Other connecting components were manufactured in Belgium, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Poland, then shipped to the site via the base ports of Esbjerg, Denmark, and Eemshaven in the Netherlands.
He Dreiht will use 64 Vestas V236-15MW turbines, each rated at 15MW, with a 236m rotor diameter and a 142m hub height.
Grid operator TenneT will connect the project to the electricity network, transmitting power to shore via an offshore platform and two submarine cables.
EnBW said it is developing further offshore projects, including Dreekant (1GW) in the German North Sea and Morven (2.9GW) in Scotland, and that renewable energy accounts for more than 70% of its total installed generation capacity.
