Construction contracts issued for North Sea Nordlicht wind farms

Vattenfall and BASF have awarded four main contracts for their Nordlicht 1 and 2 offshore wind farm developments in the German North Sea.
Feb. 4, 2025
2 min read
Courtesy Jorrit Lousberg, Zeist, The Netherlands
monopiles of offshore wind turbines

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Vattenfall and BASF have awarded four main contracts for their Nordlicht 1 and 2 offshore wind farm developments in the German North Sea, 85 km north of the island of Borkum.

Nordlicht 1 will have a capacity of about 980 MW and Nordlicht 2 about 630 MW. At peak, the two developments should generate close to 6 TWh/year.

Pending FID on the projects this year, construction should begin in 2026, with full commissioning and full operations expected by 2028.

EEW SPC will manufacture the monopile foundations at its Rostock site in eastern Germany, each with a diameter of 10 m.

CS WIND Offshore will supply the transition pieces to connect the turbines to the monopiles.

DEME will manage installation of the monopiles and transition pieces, with Jan De Nul installing 196 km of inter-array cables to connect the turbines, using its cable vessel Connector.

Last year, Vattenfall and BASF contracted Vestas to supply the wind turbines, Havfram for transportation and installation services, and TKF to provide the inter-array cables.

DEME said it would install 68 foundations and scour protection at Nordlicht 1 in 2026, followed by 44 foundations and scour protection at Nordlicht 2 in 2027.

Courtesy DEME
DEME's Orion vessel
DEME's Orion vessel

The company plans to deploy its jackup offshore installation vessel Orion and a fallpipe vessel for the scour protection.

Orion’s onboard equipment includes a motion-compensated pile gripper and a 5,000-t crane to support installation of the largest turbine foundations, even in rough conditions. Last year the ship set down more than 120 monopiles at wind farms offshore the US east coast and in UK waters.

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