All 72 wind turbine foundations at the Danish Thor offshore wind site, developed by RWE, are now equipped with secondary steel and ready for the wind turbine installation, which is expected to start in the spring of 2026.
The installation of the secondary steel structures, including boat landings, main access platforms, and internal cassettes, was completed at the beginning of November, less than six months after Van Oord’s offshore wind installation vessel MPI Adventure started the work, operating from the Danish Port of Thyborøn.
To protect the foundations from the harsh conditions at sea until the turbine towers are mounted, reusable hard covers have been installed, RWE said on 11 November.
Thor’s monopiles, delivered by Dajin Offshore and EEW SPC, were installed by Jan De Nul using its heavy-lift vessel Les Alizés , which put the final monopile in place in September.
The project’s 2,600-tonne offshore substation topside was installed on its jacket foundation in July of this year.
The installation of the Siemens Gamesa SG 14-236 DD wind turbines is scheduled to be carried out from the Port of Esbjerg, starting in the first quarter of 2026. Of the 72 turbines, 40 will feature recyclable rotor blades , and 36 turbine towers will be manufactured with a significantly lower carbon footprint than usual, according to the developer.
The wind farm’s operations and maintenance (O&M) work will be performed from a new service building at the Port of Thorsminde, which is currently under construction and is scheduled to be finalised by the beginning of 2026.
The 1.1 GW Thor offshore wind farm is expected to be fully operational in 2027, when it will be capable of producing enough green electricity to supply more than one million Danish households.
The Danish offshore wind farm is a joint project between RWE (51 per cent) and Norges Bank Investment Management (49 per cent), with RWE in charge of construction and operations throughout the wind farm’s lifecycle.