Developer RWE has signed of on the announced order for 100 of Siemens Gamesa’s 14MW offshore wind turbines for its giant Sofia project in the UK North Sea, set to be the first development to use the German-Spanish OEM’s top-of-line design.

Siemens Gamesa’s SG14-222DD, along with GE’s Haliade-X and Vestas’ V236 the largest of the new-generation of offshore models, will fly 108-metre-long blades powering a direct-drive transmission system and permanent magnet generator, promising a 25% higher annual energy production than the OEM’s forerunner, the 11MW SG11.0-200DD.

“We are delighted to be the first company to sign a firm order with Siemens Gamesa for these state-of-the-art offshore wind turbines, and that Sofia will be the first project to install them,” said Sven Utermöhlen, RWE Renewables’ chief operating officer.

“The fact that our largest offshore wind project will utilise the most innovative and technologically advanced turbines, demonstrates RWE’s continued ambition to be a trailblazer at the forefront of the offshore wind sector.”

Siemens Gamesa’s offshore business unit CEO Marc Becker said: “We are proud to be partnering with RWE on another highly significant project, and to bring our industry-leading machine to this huge development.

“A wind power project of this scale is possible due to the cutting-edge use of technology in the turbines, in their manufacturing, and in installation. Rapid innovation of proven technology has made this leap in generating capacity possible – and with it a leap forward toward the goals of decarbonising energy and achieving net zero.”

Becker added it felt “appropriate” that the design’s flagships would be installed off the UK, currently the world’s largest offshore wind market, with a target of expanding to 40GW by 2030.

The £3bn ($4.1bn) 1.4GW project, being built in 35 metres of water on a 600km² site in the Dogger Bank Zone some 200km off the UK’s North East coast, is expected to see offshore works kick off in the summer, with the project online in late 2026. Once online, Sofia is foreseen powering 1.2 million British homes.

Utermöhlen: “We look forward to constructing a flagship project that will make a significant contribution both to expanding our renewables portfolio and to the UK’s ambition of growing offshore wind capacity to 40GW by 2030.”

The SG14-222DD has been earmarked for some 3GW in ‘preferred supplier’ deals globally, including the 300MW off Taiwan and the 2.64GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project in the US Atlantic.

Construction of a vast fleet offshore wind farms around the world could deliver 10% of the carbon emission reduction needed to reach the Paris Agreement target of keeping global heating to within 2.0℃ of pre-industrial levels, according to a recent report from an industry action group led by developers Orsted and Equinor, which is calling on international governments to muster a 1.4TW build-out by 2050.

Wind

Siemens Gamesa seals deal for marquee offshore wind model for RWE's Sofia