The Nordseecluster is a joint venture between RWE and Northland Power. It combines four wind farm sites in the eastern part of the German North Sea into a 1.6 GW project. The combination of those four wind sites opens up unique economies of scale – making the whole of Nordseecluster more than the sum of its parts and by this setting new standards for the future of green energy.

Location

All four sites are located in the BSH Cluster N-3 (formerly known as Cluster 3, DolWin 6), approximately 50 km north of the island of Juist. This area in the German Bight is dedicated to offshore wind. The project is in the most southerly row of offshore projects within the EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) and is bordered to the north and south by the main shipping traffic separation routes.

Capacity

The total capacity of the cluster will be 1.56 GW. This leads to a total annual power production of 6.400.000 MWh/a. This is enough to supply 1.600.000 average households with renewable energy. The individual capacity of the sites are:

• N-3.5: 420 MW
• N-3.6: 480 MW
• N-3.7: 225 MW
• N-3.8: 435 MW
• Total: 1.560 MW

The capacity of each site is based on the max. reserved export capacities, that can be fed into the offshore grid.

Turbines

The 1.6-gigawatt (GW) cluster will consist of a minimum of 104 wind turbines, each with an installed capacity of 15 megawatts. To use the latest available technology, we have signed a preferred supplier agreement with Vestas. Each turbine (Type: V236-15.0 MW) will have a capacity of 15 MW.

Shareholders

The Nordseecluster is a joint venture between RWE (51%) and Northland Power (49%). Both parties are aiming to develop, construct and operate the Nordseecluster as one offshore windfarm. They worked together on the Nordsee One (N1) project, which has been operating since 2017.

Development

The close proximity of the offshore sites gave RWE and Northland Power the opportunity to develop one of the largest offshore wind farms in Germany – The Nordseecluster.

The merger of the four sites offers economies of scale and allows the development of the 2nd phase of the project (N-3.5 and N-3.6) together with the 1st phase (N-3.6 and N-3.7). All major contracts are made for both phases of the project, allowing the supply chain to reliably plan manufacturing and leverage synergies to be cost efficient. This approach will also make the 2nd phase of the project less risky, since the Nordseecluster will have all the important contracts and investigations at the time of the auction.

The Nordseecluster can enter into these obligations based on existing entry rights for the upcoming auction. Especially in times of tense supply chains and rapidly increasing raw material prices, security through the clustering of projects is crucial.

KeyFacts Energy: RWE Renewables Germany country profile