Germany’s maritime and hydrographic agency (BSH) has granted Orsted the official project approval for its 900MW Borkum Riffgrund 3 wind project in the North Sea, following up on an earlier permit for the nearby 242MW Gode Wind 3 project.

The Danish utility is slated to build the two wind farms in parallel to form a 1.14GW offshore wind cluster. Orsted in Borkum Riffgrund 3 has combined three formerly separate projects (Borkum Riffgrund 1 & 2, and OWP West), which it had secured in tenders for pre-developed projects in 2017 and 2018.

“With the planning approval for Borkum Riffgrund 3, both of our future German projects are well on the way to being implemented,” Orsted Germany managing director Jörg Kubitza said.

“This means that we are ahead of the biggest construction we have done so far in Germany. Together with our projects already in operation, we will then have installed a capacity at sea comparable to that of three medium-sized coal-fired power plants.”

Germany wtih 7.7GW currently has the world's third-largest capacity of operating offshore wind farms (after the UK and China), and by 2030 so far targets to have 20GW online.

The three parties that are currently in coalition talks to form a new government after late September elections (Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals) have said they plan to 'significantly increase capacities for offshore wind', although no more details have been set.

Orsted yesterday had announced the sale of half of Borkum Riffgrund 3 to Glennmont Partners, a unit of global asset manager Nuveen, in a move that will minimize the merchant risk at the zero subsidy project.

The company earlier this year had already signed long-term fixed power purchase agreements (PPAs) for half of its capacity (450MW) geared at making the project profitable even without support.

The utility expects to take a final investment decision at the end of this year, and plans to take Borkum Riffgrund 3 into full commercial operation in 2025, while Gode Wind 3 is slated to start operations in 2024.

Borkum Riffgrund 3 will feature 83 Siemens Gamesa 11MW turbines. The project is located at 53 kilometres off the German North Sea island of Borkum.

The BSH granted the project approval after a permitting procedure that included the participation of the public and public bodies, as well as an environmental impact assessment.

Wind

'Comparable to three coal plants': Orsted receives permit for its biggest German offshore wind project