COD for 900 MW German Offshore Wind Farm Pushed Back from End-2025 to Early 2026

November 5, 2024, by Adrijana Buljan

The 900 MW Borkum Riffgrund 3 offshore wind farm in Germany will be commissioned in the first quarter of 2026 instead of the initially planned fourth quarter of 2025 due to a delay in the grid connection construction.

According to information that Borkum Riffgrund 3 developer, Ørsted, shared in its third-quarter 2024 report, the installation of the grid connection “has been delayed by the German TSO” so the expected commercial operation date (COD) of the offshore wind farm was moved from Q4 2025 to Q1 2026.

Ørsted also says the company is being compensated for this delay.

Boekum Riffgrund 3 will be linked to the DolWin5 offshore grid connection system which TenneT is building in the North Sea.

A map showing the DolWin5 offshore grid connection system — DolWin5 grid connection system; Image: TenneT

The 900 MW offshore grid connection project uses extra-high voltage direct current transmission technology. The three-phase alternating current (AC) generated by the offshore wind farm is converted into direct current (DC) at the DolWin epsilon offshore platform and transported south to Hamswehrum near the river Ems in East Frisia via a 100-kilometre-long subsea cable.

From Hamswehrum, a 30-kilometre-long onshore cable leads to the converter station in Emden/East where the DC is converted back into three-phase AC and fed into the extra-high voltage grid on land.

As for Borkum Riffgrund 3, offshore work is progressing on schedule, according to Ørsted, with all foundations and 85 per cent of the wind turbines installed. The developer expects the offshore installation work to be completed before the end of this year.

Borkum Riffgrund 3 is being built simultaneously with the 253 MW Gode Wind 3, which already delivered its first power in May this year.

At Gode Wind 3, the construction has been completed and the final wind turbines are now undergoing the 240-hour test before the wind farm is fully commissioned.