Vattenfall Begins Offshore Construction of Germany’s Largest Offshore Wind Project

Vattenfall has commenced the installation of foundation structures for the Nordlicht I wind farm, initiating a primary construction phase for offshore wind generation in Germany. This infrastructure development targets the renewable energy and power distribution industries by establishing a high-capacity fossil-free energy ecosystem in the North Sea.

Foundation Installation and Supply Chain Logistics
On July 1st, Vattenfall installed the primary monopile for the Nordlicht I offshore wind project. The transport and installation of these structural foundations and transition pieces are executed by DEME, which handles the logistics for both the first and second phases of the cluster. The manufacturing of the monopiles is conducted by EEW Special Pipe Constructions in Rostock, while transition pieces are produced by CSWind in Aalborg. Nordlicht I requires 68 of these combined foundation structures. The physical specifications of the individual monopiles include a length of up to 80.5 metres and a mass reaching 1,290 tonnes. Prior to maritime operations, Vattenfall executed terrestrial testing of critical offshore procedures to validate operational interfaces and safety protocols. Regarding the logistical requirements of such infrastructure, Cyril Moss, Project Director Nordlicht at Vattenfall, noted that developments of this scale necessitate exact supply chain coordination, precise planning, and a strict focus on execution.

Generation Capacity and Material Specifications
The Nordlicht offshore wind cluster is situated approximately 85 kilometres north of the island of Borkum in the German North Sea. The development is structured into two separate operational projects: Nordlicht I with a projected capacity of 980 megawatts, and Nordlicht II, which will follow a year later with an output of 630 megawatts. Upon completion and commissioning in 2028, the combined infrastructure will deliver an estimated 6 terawatt hours of electricity annually to European grid networks. To lower the embodied carbon of the project, the turbine towers utilize low-emission steel, which reduces the overall structural carbon footprint of the wind farms by approximately 16 percent.

Additional Context:
This section details technical specifications and competitive benchmarking not included in the original product announcement

Within the offshore wind generation sector, XXL monopiles exceeding 1,000 tonnes have become the standard structural foundation for supporting 14 to 15-megawatt class turbines in intermediate water depths. Comparable infrastructure projects in the German exclusive economic zone, such as the 900-megawatt He Dreiht wind farm developed by EnBW, utilize similar monopile foundations with weights of approximately 1,350 tonnes. Regarding materials engineering, the integration of low-emission steel in turbine towers serves as a measurable benchmark for supply chain decarbonization. While Vattenfall reports a 16 percent reduction in the overall carbon footprint of the installations, competing developers such as Orsted utilize proprietary low-carbon towers that reduce the specific tower emission footprint by up to 60 percent. The total 1.61-gigawatt capacity of the Nordlicht cluster positions it ahead of previous benchmark projects like Borkum Riffgrund 3, solidifying its status regarding total electrical output in the region.

Edited by Natania Lyngdoh, Induportals editor, assisted by AI.

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