The Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) has granted planning approval for the construction of the Nordlicht 2 offshore wind farm. This means that the second project in the Nordlicht cluster, consisting of two separate sites, Nordlicht 1 (with a capacity of around 980 megawatts) and Nordlicht 2 (with a capacity of around 630 megawatts), has now also been officially approved.
The Nordlicht 2 wind farm will be built north of Borkum in the west of the German EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone). The project comprises a total of 44 wind turbines, each with a capacity of 15 megawatts, covering an area of around 44 square kilometres. The electricity generated will be fed into the BorWin Delta converter platform, which is part of the NOR-6-3 grid connection system.
"With the approval of Nordlicht 2, we are moving forward in close partnership with authorities and stakeholders to deliver one of Germany’s most ambitious offshore wind developments" says Jonas van Mansfeld, Acting Head of BU Offshore at Vattenfall. "Together with Nordlicht 1 – Germany’s largest offshore wind farm – Nordlicht II will make a significant contribution to the country’s energy transition.”
Vestas V236-15.0 MW wind turbines (graphic: Vestas)
Offshore construction of Nordlicht 1 is scheduled to begin in 2026 and Nordlicht 2 one year later, with the wind farms due to go into operation in 2028. Once fully operational, electricity production for the cluster is expected to be around 6 terawatt hours (TWh) per year. As part of Vattenfall's sustainability efforts, both wind farms will be equipped with turbine towers made partly from low-emission steel, reducing their overall carbon footprint by 16 per cent. /1/
The Nordlicht cluster is a key element in Vattenfall's strategy to enable life without fossil fuels. In addition to its projects in Germany, the company is also consistently driving forward the expansion of offshore wind energy in other European countries, with projects in development in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Scandinavia.
/1/ Vattenfall has signed contracts with Vestas for the delivery and installation of 112 V236-15.0 megawatts wind turbines for the Nordlicht 1 and 2 offshore wind farms. The aforementioned 16% reduction in CO₂ emissions is based on an environmental product declaration (EPD) for the steel, which is produced with an intensity of 0.9 tonnes of CO₂ per tonne of steel. In comparison, the standard steel used by Vestas for tower production has an intensity of 2.6 tonnes of CO₂ per tonne of steel.
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