Germany’s largest offshore wind farm to date, EnBW’s He Dreiht project, has reached a major construction milestone, offering a positive signal for a sector facing headwinds. On 25 November, the project generated and delivered its first kilowatt-hour of electricity to the grid, coinciding with the start of turbine commissioning.
Peter Heydecker, EnBW board member responsible for sustainable generation infrastructure, called the moment significant for the company. EnBW has spent the past 15 years planning, building and operating offshore wind farms in Germany and is working toward a target of having 80% of its generation portfolio from renewables by 2028, alongside a gradual phase-out of coal-fired generation.
He Dreiht is also notable as the first project to deploy Vestas 15 MW offshore turbines. EnBW emphasizes that a single rotor revolution of a 15 MW turbine can generate enough electricity to supply four households for a full day. Industry analysts have suggested that turbines of this size could materially improve the economics of offshore wind in the North Sea.
With a hub height of 142 metres and a rotor diameter of 236 metres, each turbine sweeps 43,742 square metres per rotation—roughly the area of six football pitches—highlighting the leap from the 2.3 MW turbines used on EnBW’s earliest offshore projects.
The wind farm is located around 85 km northwest of Borkum and 110 km west of Helgoland in the North Sea. EnBW estimates total investment at approximately €2.4 billion, and states that the project is being delivered without government funding. A partner consortium—Allianz Capital Partners, AIP and Norges Bank Investment Management—holds 49.9% of the project.
EnBW reports that the wind farm’s internal cabling and connection to the converter platform were completed in August. So far, 27 of the 64 turbines have been installed and are being commissioned, with the remaining units expected to begin supplying power progressively over the coming weeks.
Although the project is slightly behind schedule, EnBW says full commissioning is planned by summer 2026.
