Ørsted’s Borkum Riffgrund 3 wind farm delivers first power in Germany

Ørsted’s offshore wind farm, Borkum Riffgrund 3, has commenced power generation, supplying its first electricity to the German grid. 

The project, co-owned by Ørsted and Nuveen Infrastructure, has an installed capacity of 913MW.

Situated nearly 72km off the German North Sea coast, the wind farm spans an area of approximately 75km².

Construction utilised components from across Europe: wind turbines and foundations from Denmark and Germany, cables from France and Germany, and installation vessels from Belgium and the Netherlands.

The facility comprises 83 wind turbines, each rated at 11MW. Notably, Borkum Riffgrund 3 is said to be Ørsted’s first German offshore wind farm to be built without an offshore substation.

The turbines are directly connected through a 66kV link to the DolWin epsilon offshore converter platform, which is operated by TenneT, the German transmission system operator.

Borkum Riffgrund 3 is backed by multiple long-term corporate power purchase agreements (CPPAs) that Ørsted has entered into with industrial and technology clients.

Ørsted noted that these offtake agreements total 786MW and have been signed with Amazon (350MW), BASF (186MW), Energie-Handels-Gesellschaft/REWE Group (100MW), Covestro (100MW), and Google (50MW).

The CPPAs, which span from ten to 25 years, are expected to provide price stability for both the project and its customers.

Borkum Riffgrund 3 is expected to be fully commissioned in the first quarter (Q1) of 2026.

Operation and maintenance activities for Ørsted’s German offshore wind farms are managed from Norden-Norddeich and Emden in East Frisia.

Earlier in 2025, Ørsted and Nuveen Infrastructure’s Gode Wind 3 offshore wind farm was fully commissioned, supplying enough renewable energy to power the equivalent of 250,000 German households.

With the addition of these projects, the installed offshore wind capacity of Ørsted in Germany is projected to reach around 2.5GW by early 2026, capable of powering approximately 2.5 million households.

Recently, Ørsted said it cut carbon emissions by 98%.  

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