Waters off Denmark’s west coast are now home to what RWE says is the world’s first offshore wind turbine featuring a CO2‑reduced steel tower and recyclable rotor blades.
The 1.1 GW Thor offshore wind farm, currently under construction some 22 kilometres off the west coast of Jutland, will comprise 72 Siemens Gamesa SG 14-236 DD wind turbines rated at 15 MW, half of which will be equipped with steel towers produced with a lower carbon footprint, while 40 turbines will feature a total of 120 recyclable rotor blades.
RWE is already using recyclable rotor blades, made with composite materials which can be separated and reused, at its offshore wind farms Kaskasi in Germany and Sofia in the UK, and is the first company worldwide to use Siemens Gamesa’s GreenerTower, the developer said.
The GreenerTower plates are made from steel that produces at least 63 per cent lower CO₂ emissions than conventional steel, as the certified production process limits emissions by using renewable-powered furnaces and scrap steel, for example, RWE says.
“This world-first is about moving circularity from promise to practice. RecyclableBlade is designed to enable composite materials to be recovered and recycled, addressing a growing end of life challenge. Together with GreenerTower, which lowers the carbon footprint of steel and reduces overall turbine emissions by around 20 percent, we are proving that sustainability can be delivered at scale in offshore wind, with safety, quality and certainty”, said Marc Becker , Senior Vice President of Siemens Gamesa Offshore.
At the Thor project site, offshore construction is well underway, with the offshore substation and all wind turbine foundations installed last year. Fred. Olsen Windcarrier’s vessel Brave Tern installed the first wind turbine at the beginning of March, and the project produced first power shortly after that.
All 72 wind turbines will be installed by the end of 2026, with the 1.1 GW offshore wind farm scheduled to be fully operational in 2027. Once commissioned, Thor will be capable of producing enough green electricity to supply the equivalent of more than one million Danish households, according to RWE, which owns the offshore wind farm together with Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM).