First power on all 56 turbines at Borkum Riffgrund II offshore wind farm has now been achieved and the German project will soon enter commercial operation.
This is according to social media updates from MHI Vestas, for which Borkum Riffgrund II is the first offshore wind farm in German waters that the company supplied its wind turbines to.
On 1 November, Ørsted’s CEO Henrik Poulsen said that the 450MW wind farm was expected to be fully commissioned by early December, weather permitting.
Borkum Riffgrund II is the first offshore wind farm in Germany to feature 8MW wind turbines and suction bucket foundations . The wind farm produced first power in early August.
The power required for the commissioning of Borkum Riffgrund II’s turbines came from the sister project Borkum Riffgrund I, which was connected to Borkum Riffgrund II by means of a connecting cable. Thus, the commissioning of the wind turbines was carried out independently of network operator TenneT, which was completing the grid connection in parallel.
The wind farm will be managed from Ørsted’s operations & management centre in Norden-Norddeich. In addition to Ørsted, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) is equally involved in the project.