RWE (51%) and Northland Power (49%) are taking the next step in the development of their Nordseecluster. The companies have selected Dajin Offshore as the preferred supplier for their up to 1.6-gigawatt (GW) cluster consisting of four offshore wind farm sites in the German North Sea. The company will supply the foundations for all 104 offshore wind turbines. All deliverables are subject to the final investment decision for the individual phases of Nordseecluster (A and B). Dajin Offshore is the largest private Chinese offshore wind manufacturer of foundations, transition pieces and offshore towers.
Benjamin Miethling, Northland Power’s Managing Director of the Nordseecluster: “We are excited to have signed the Preferred Supplier Agreement with Dajin as part of our strategy to achieve substantial economies of scale and leverage synergies during the development, construction and subsequent operation of our four wind farm sites. We will finalise the main contract over the coming months. We are looking forward to continuing our trustful and productive collaboration with Dajin, the plan being to have the first foundations in the water by 2025.”
Sven Schulemann, RWE’s Managing Director of the Nordseecluster: “This is the next important milestone on our way to delivering this 1.6-gigawatt cluster. When the Nordseecluster becomes fully operational at the beginning of 2029, it will generate enough green electricity to supply the equivalent of 1,600,000 German households annually.”
The Nordseecluster will be constructed in two phases. Two wind farms (N-3.8 and N-3.7) with a combined capacity of 660 megawatts (MW) are currently in the permit application phase. The foundation installation at sea is expected to start in 2025, with commercial operations starting in early 2027. Of the 104 foundations in total, 44 are reserved for this initial stage (Nordseecluster A). Two further wind farms (N-3.6 and N-3.5) of the second phase (Nordseecluster B) will add an additional 900 MW of capacity.
Foundation installation works for Nordseecluster B are scheduled to begin in 2027, with commercial operations to start at the beginning of 2029. For both sites, RWE and Northland Power plan to bid and to exercise their step-in rights in the German Government’s offshore wind auctions this year – as they did in 2021 for Nordseecluster A.
Xin Jin, Owner and Chairmen at Dajin Offshore: “For Dajin this is honor and responsibility to be approved as supplier and work closely with two great companies, RWE and Northland Power, on the Nordseecluster projects. This is the next very important milestone for Dajin on its way to becoming a leading global offshore foundations supplier.”
The Nordseecluster will be in close proximity to the existing 332-MW Nordsee One wind farm which RWE and Northland Power co-developed and continue to operate jointly. To deploy the cluster, the partners will rely on experienced suppliers and on their own expertise in offshore wind.
For more information about the Nordseecluster, please visit: www.nordseecluster.com.
A map of the Nordseecluster (credit: RWE) and a picture of the foundations (credit: Dajin Offshore) can be found in the RWE media library.