The Gode Wind 3 offshore wind farm is being developed in the North Sea, offshore Germany, by Danish energy company Orsted.
The German Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) granted planning approval for the project in April 2021. The facility is being developed simultaneously with the Borkum Riffgrund 3 wind farm, which is also owned by Orsted.
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The final investment decisions (FID) for the two projects were made in December 2021.
In October 2023, Orsted signed an agreement with Glennmont Partners to sell a 50% stake in the wind farm. The €473m ($499.03m) deal includes both the price of the acquisition and commitment to finance 50% of the construction cost. The transaction was closed in December of the same year.
The first turbine at the wind farm was installed in May 2024 and started delivering electricity to the German grid.
The Gode Wind 3 offshore wind farm is expected to be commissioned in 2024.
Gode Wind 3 location and development background
The Gode Wind 3 offshore wind farm is located in the German North Sea, approximately 32km away from the island of Norderney within Cluster 3 and the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The two wind farms are being developed 60km apart from each other and close to Orsted’s Gode Wind 1 and 2, which are among the biggest wind farms in Europe.
Gode Wind 3 was initially proposed as two projects of 110MW and 132MW, which were awarded to Orsted in 2017 and 2018, respectively, through the offshore wind auctions of the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA). The two projects were merged in September 2019 and are being built as one joint project.
Gode Wind 3 offshore wind farm make-up
The Gode Wind 3 offshore wind farm will be installed with 23 Siemens Gamesa SG 11.0-200 DD offshore wind turbines.
The turbine design is based on Siemens Gamesa’s direct drive technology, which reduces the wear and tear of turbine components while enabling easier maintenance. The turbine features a permanent magnet generator, which requires no excitation power and improves efficiency.
Each wind turbine will have a nominal output of 11MW of clean energy and feature the 97m-long B97 IntegralBlade rotor blades, which have a diameter of 200m and swept area of 31,400m² (337,986ft²). The turbines will be mounted on monopile foundations with a length of 100m and weight of approximately 1,200t.
The first monopile foundation was installed in August 2023.
Power transmission details of Gode Wind 3
The power generated from the offshore wind farm will be sent to a 242MW offshore substation through dedicated underwater cables. The substation was installed in September 2023 and will function as a remote control and monitoring station for the Gode Wind 3 offshore wind farm.
A three-phase power connection is installed in Cluster 3 to facilitate the transmission of the three-phase electric power produced from Gode Wind 3 to the DolWin kappa offshore converter platform through an AC subsea cable.
The wind farm is connected to TenneT’s extra-high-voltage grid by the DolWin Kappa high-voltage direct current (HVDC) converter station in the German North Sea as well as the associated DolWin6 320kV onshore grid connection in Emden/East (Lower Saxony), Germany.
Contractors involved
Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) was selected as the preferred turbine supplier for the project. The supply contract also includes a service and maintenance agreement for five years.
Jan De Nul Group was contracted to transport and install monopile foundations as well as an offshore substation topside for the Gode Wind 3 and Borkum Riffgrund 3 wind farms. The company is utilising its next-generation offshore installation vessel, Les Alizes, for transport and installation.
