Ørsted has conditionally named Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy as the preferred turbine supplier for two offshore wind power projects in the German North Sea totaling 1.142 GW. At both the 900 MW Borkum Riffgrund 3 and the 242 MW Gode Wind 3 sites, Siemens Gamesa will deploy its new SG 11.0-200 DD offshore wind turbine. A five-year service and maintenance agreement is included in the preferred supplier award.
The award is subject to certain conditions including Ørsted’s final investment decision, which itself is subject to the projects receiving final grid dates and final consents from German authorities. The Borkum Riffgrund 3 project will be the largest offshore project in Germany to date.
“In this new decade, we need to translate social and political ambition into tangible action and change,” said Andreas Nauen, CEO of the Siemens Gamesa Offshore Business Unit. “As a global leader in renewable energy, we are committed to helping move Germany toward a competitive decarbonization thanks to the implementation of our most advanced technologies. We are glad to do so together with global market leader Ørsted and to deploy our new Direct Drive offshore turbine with a 200-meter rotor at the same time.”
“Driving innovation is at the core of Ørsted’s DNA, and we look forward to once again introducing new turbine technology to the market,” said Martin Neubert, executive vice president and CEO of Ørsted Offshore. “Subject to our final investment decision, we will install the new turbine on two German projects including Borkum Riffgrund 3, which will be the biggest offshore wind power plant yet in German waters, adding to the more than 1.3 GW offshore wind we have already installed in Germany. The increasingly larger turbines and projects have been key drivers in making offshore wind cheaper than newly-built, fossil-based power generation. Electrification through renewable energy is the fastest and most cost-efficient way to achieve the decarbonization of Europe needed to fight global warming, and we’re proud of contributing to Germany’s transition to renewable energy.”
The final number of turbines for both projects remains to be determined. Ørsted expects the installation of Gode Wind 3 to begin in 2023, with commissioning being completed in 2024. The installation of Borkum Riffgrund 3 is expected to begin in 2024, with commissioning being completed in 2025.
A total of about 1.2 million German households will be served by the projects once online: about 920,000 at Borkum Riffgrund 3 and about 250,000 at Gode Wind 3. About 7 million metric tons of CO2 emissions will be avoided annually compared to traditional power generation.
The SG 11.0-200 DD offshore wind turbine features a 200-meter diameter rotor using the 97- meter long Siemens Gamesa B97 IntegralBlade. The B94 blade design has been re-used and extended to reach the new length, whereas the generator capacity remains at 11 MW, as known from the SG 11.0-193 DD Flex. The upgraded machine with 200-meter diameter rotor provides an increase of 9 percent in Annual Energy Production compared to the SG 10.0-193 DD offshore wind turbine with 193-meter diameter rotor.
Extending on the proven offshore direct drive track record, the turbine upgrade is based on Siemens Gamesa’s deep understanding and expertise gained over five product generations since the platform was launched in 2011.
Through close collaboration with both customers and suppliers, the upgrade has been made possible by using the flexible IntegralBlade production setup in the Siemens Gamesa blade factories. Extensive research and development have gone into developing the new blade, with a focus on keeping blade weight increase below 3.5 percent even as rotor diameter increases by 3.5 percent.
Over 1,000 Siemens Gamesa Direct Drive offshore wind turbines have been installed in all major offshore wind markets globally. They include the U.K., Germany, Denmark, The Netherlands, Belgium, and Taiwan, among others. Furthermore, confirmed orders for an additional 1,000 Offshore Direct Drive turbines have been received, with installations planned for the markets mentioned above and new offshore markets including the U.S. and France.
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