en.Wedoany.com Reported - On July 1, DEME completed the installation of the first monopile at the Nordlicht I offshore wind farm site in the German North Sea, marking the official start of offshore construction for Vattenfall's 1.6 GW Nordlicht cluster.

The Belgian contractor is responsible for transporting and installing monopile foundations and transition pieces for the 980 MW Nordlicht I and 630 MW Nordlicht II wind farms, under contracts signed between 2024 and 2025.

The Nordlicht I project will install 68 monopile foundations and an equal number of transition pieces (TPs); the monopiles measure up to 80.5 meters in length and weigh up to 1,290 tons. These monopiles are manufactured by EEW Special Pipe Constructions at its Rostock plant, while the transition pieces are supplied by CS Wind from Aalborg.

Vattenfall completed onshore installation tests for the transition pieces earlier this year to prepare for the upcoming offshore work. Foundation installation for Nordlicht II is scheduled to begin approximately one year later, with both wind farms expected to commence commercial operations in 2028.

Located about 85 kilometers north of Borkum, the two offshore wind farms will collectively install 112 Vestas V236-15.0 MW wind turbines, with 68 units for Nordlicht I and 44 units for Nordlicht II. Once fully operational, the cluster is expected to generate approximately 6 TWh of electricity annually.