EnBW completes installation of offshore wind farm He Dreiht – Germany's largest wind farm off the North Sea

According to EnBW, the project is the first German offshore wind farm to operate without state funding. The company is financing the construction through power purchase agreements with industrial customers, who purchase the electricity directly at agreed prices. EnBW is thereby implementing a new business model in a market that has previously relied heavily on feed-in tariffs.

Technical dimensions and facilities

The facility includes 64 wind turbines of the Vestas V236-15.0 MW type, each with a nominal capacity of 15 megawatts. The towers rise up to 150 meters high, and the rotors, with a diameter of 236 meters, sweep an area larger than six football fields per turbine. With these dimensions, He Dreiht ranks among the most powerful wind farms worldwide.

Difficult weather conditions and logistical bottlenecks had delayed construction in recent years. EnBW repeatedly had to respond to delivery delays and weather-related pauses. Now that all turbines are in place on their foundations, the commissioning and grid connection phase begins.

Connection to the power grid

The grid connection is made via the offshore grid connection system DolWin4, which brings the electricity generated in the North Sea ashore. Full feed-in into the German power grid is planned by EnBW for the second half of 2026. Until then, tests on individual turbines are still ongoing.

He Dreiht is an important building block for Germany's energy transition. So far, renewable energies such as wind, solar, and biomass cover growing shares of the electricity mix, but during periods of low wind and dark doldrums, conventional power plants remain necessary as backup. According to experts, large offshore facilities can help reduce these gaps because they deliver electricity consistently over many hours of the year.

Significance for the energy transition

Peter Heydecker, Board Member for Sustainable Generation Infrastructure at EnBW, emphasized the strategic significance of the project. "Offshore wind is a domestic, renewable energy source that can generate large quantities of electricity over many hours of the year and thus makes an important contribution to supply security and to the decarbonization of the electricity system," Heydecker said on the occasion of the installation completion.

The company plans to further expand its offshore portfolio in the coming years. According to the company, additional projects are in preparation in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. Industry observers also see He Dreiht as a signal to international investors that offshore wind in Germany can be realized economically without subsidies.

Outlook and challenges

At the same time, the industry faces challenges: supply chains, rising interest rates, and approval procedures are driving up costs. Observers therefore see the completion of He Dreiht as a litmus test for whether future major German projects can stay on schedule and within budget.