Offshore wind turbine manufacturer MHI Vestas and Danish utility Orsted are celebrating the handover of 56 V164-8.3 MW turbines, marking the official inauguration of the 450MW Borkum Riffgrund array in the German part of the North Sea.
All turbines had already been installed in September 2018.
It is the first German offshore wind farm to feature 8MW turbines and suction bucket jacket foundations on a large scale. Orsted had already installed a suction bucket at its 312MW Borkum Riffgrund 1 array in 2014, but not at an entire wind farm.
“Offshore wind energy is a reliable cornerstone for a successful energy transition,” said Volker Malmen, managing director for Orsted in Germany.
“With MHI Vestas’ 8.3 MW turbines for Borkum Riffgrund 2, we set a new milestone for offshore wind in Germany, by pioneering this technology in German waters.”
The 950-tonnes suction bucket structure becomes firmly embedded in the seafloor by vacuum pressure, eliminating the need for hammering and significantly reducing noise during installation.
The 450 MW project is located 57km off the coast of Lower Saxony state.
MHI Vestas is now gearing up for the installation of 33 of its V164-8.4 MW turbines at the 269MW Deutsche Bucht array in the North Sea. The offshore wind OEM has also been named preferred turbine supplier for up to 52 V174-9.5 MW turbines for Iberdrola’s 476MW Baltic Eagle array, scheduled for installation in 2022-2023.
