He Dreiht wind farm inaugurated in Germany

Its 64 turbines and an installed output of 960 MW make it Germany’s largest offshore wind farm. It was built without state funding and is being financed solely through long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs). He Dreiht will play a key role in maintaining security of supply and decarbonising the energy system in the future, with the wind farm capable of covering the annual electricity needs of the equivalent of around 1.1 million households.

Georg Stamatelopoulos, Chairman of the Board of Management at EnBW, commented: “In recent years, we have invested billions in the expansion of renewable energies. He Dreiht is the largest single investment made by EnBW in renewables. It is also a perfect example of how renewable energy can prevail on the market when the underlying conditions are right. We need more projects like He Dreiht, which deliver affordable, secure, and clean electricity. At the same time, we have to gear Germany’s entire energy system towards these three aspects. And this will only be possible if we show courage combined with pragmatism.”

Carsten Schneider, Federal Environment Minister, added: “The new He Dreiht offshore wind farm sends a strong signal for the further expansion of renewables in our country. It will make us less dependent on fossil fuels. The development of offshore wind energy holds huge economic potential for the coastal regions, but also for the whole of Germany as a business location. That is why it is so important to create solid political conditions for further environmentally compatible expansion.”

Dr. Günther Thallinger, Member of the Board of Management at Allianz SE, Investment Management, Sustainability, representing the consortium consisting of Allianz Global Investors, AIP Management, and Norges Bank Investment Management, noted: “The energy transition is not only an environmental imperative but also an economic one. Reliable renewable energy infrastructure strengthens energy security, reduces long-term systemic risks, and supports future competitiveness. He Dreiht is an important success to achieve this for Germany. At the same time, the project shows how private capital can be mobilised to finance the transition while delivering the predictable long-term returns that millions of savers and pension beneficiaries rely on.”

Back in 2017, EnBW was awarded the contract for He Dreiht in the first round of auctions for offshore wind farms in Germany, with no entitlement to state funding. The company holds 50.1% of the shares through a project company. The remaining 49.9% are held by a consortium made up of Allianz Global Investors on behalf of Allianz entities, AIP Management, and Norges Bank Investment Management. Around €2.4 billion are being invested in it.

Long-term PPAs have been signed for electricity production, giving companies long-term price stability and planning certainty while directly helping them to achieve their own climate targets. One such example can be found in the technology sector, where PPAs will continue to be an important tool due to the increasing amount of energy needed by digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI) applications. He Dreiht is thus making a substantial contribution to the decarbonisation of industry and business.

Evonik, Google, the Telekom subsidiary PASM, Fraport, Bosch, Salzgitter, SHS Stahl-Holding Saar, Deutsche Bahn, and DHL Group are among the contractual partners.

Construction work on He Dreiht got underway in the middle of the North Sea in May 2024. At peak times, more than 500 people worked on the site and over 60 ships were involved, all co-ordinated by EnBW’s offshore office in Hamburg. There is a European supply chain behind the project: the 64 foundations – steel pipes 9 m in diameter and 70 m long – were manufactured solely in Germany, while the connecting elements between the foundations and the tower were made in Belgium, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Poland. The components were transported to the construction site from the base ports of Esbjerg in Denmark and Eemshaven in the Netherlands.

The size of the turbines explains the effort involved. At a hub height of 142 m, the rotor with a diameter of 236 m sweeps through an area of around 44 000 m² per revolution – equivalent to the area of six football fields. A single rotation of the rotor is enough to supply the equivalent of four households with electricity for a day. The network operator, TenneT, is responsible for connecting the wind farm to the electricity grid. The electricity reaches the coast via a platform in the sea and two submarine cables.

The task of transitioning He Dreiht into regular operation will be a gradual process that involves connecting the individual turbines to the grid one by one, testing them, and starting them up. The first turbines are already feeding electricity into the grid, with the others set to follow. Based on current progress, the wind farm should be fully operational in the coming months.

EnBW’s expansion of renewable energies continues unabated. The installed output is currently around 8 GW, more than double the 2018 figure. Renewable energies account for over 70% of the total installed generation capacity.

By the end of 2030, around 80% of EnBW’s generation portfolio is set to consist of renewables. At the same time, EnBW is already developing the next major offshore projects with Dreekant (1 GW) in the German North Sea and Morven (2.9 GW) in Scotland.

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