RWE has taken an important step in the construction of the 1.1 gigawatt (GW) Thor offshore wind farm in the Danish North Sea: the first of 72 monopile foundations has been successfully installed.
The monopiles were shipped from the heavy-lift terminal in Eemshaven, the Netherlands to the Thor construction site in the Danish North Sea, located approximately 22 kilometres off the west coast of Jutland, and installed by the vessel “Les Alizés”. Five monopiles can be loaded in one shipment. The monopiles are around 100 metres in length and weigh up to 1,500 metric tons each. This is roughly equivalent to the weight of 1,000 small cars.
Sven Utermöhlen, CEO of RWE Offshore Wind: “With Thor we are constructing Denmark’s largest offshore wind farm to date. The installation of the first monopile is a highly symbolic moment and a great achievement for the entire RWE team after years of planning and preparation. My thanks go to all colleagues and partners involved for their contribution. Building a project of this size and scale is a great opportunity to demonstrate our expertise in delivering valuable offshore wind farms around the globe.”
Secondary steel structures for the foundations are being handled from the Danish Port of Thyborøn, which is the offshore construction base for Thor and home port for the project’s service vessels. The control centre for managing marine logistics and traffic throughout the offshore construction phase is also based in Thyborøn.
RWE to deploy CO2-reduced steel towers and recyclable rotor blades
To protect the monopiles from the harsh conditions at sea until the turbine towers are mounted, innovative reused hard covers will be installed. As a further sustainable feature, 36 of the turbines will be equipped with CO2-reduced steel towers and 40 turbines will use recyclable rotor blades.
Delivery of Thor offshore wind farm well underway
The turbine installation works are scheduled to be carried out from the Port of Esbjerg in Denmark, starting in 2026. When fully operational in 2027, Thor offshore wind farm will be capable of producing enough green electricity to supply the equivalent of more than one million Danish households. The wind farm’s operations and maintenance plan expects to create 50 to 60 local jobs in a new service building at the Port of Thorsminde. Construction of the new RWE service building is already underway, and is expected to be finalised by the end of 2025.
Leading global player in offshore wind
RWE is one of the world's leading players in the offshore wind sector and has more than 20 years of experience in the development, construction and efficient operation of offshore wind farms. The company already has 19 offshore wind farms in operation and is currently building the following wind farms: Sofia in the UK (1.4 GW), OranjeWind together with TotalEnergies in the Netherlands (795 MW, RWE share: 50%), the Nordseecluster (1.6 GW) in Germany as well as the Thor wind farm in Denmark (1.1 GW). At the end of March, RWE announced that Norges Bank Investment Management would acquire a 49% stake in the Thor and Nordseecluster offshore wind projects.
For more information about RWE’s Thor offshore project, please visit thor.rwe.com.
Images for media use are available at the RWE Media Centre (Credit: RWE)
