Ørsted and Nuveen Inaugurate 913 MW Borkum Riffgrund 3 Offshore Wind Farm
Hamburg – Danish energy company Ørsted and infrastructure investor Nuveen have officially inaugurated the Borkum Riffgrund 3 offshore wind farm, which has an installed capacity of 913 MW. Located in the German North Sea, the project is one of Germany's largest offshore wind farms and, according to the companies, can theoretically supply almost one million households with electricity.
Borkum Riffgrund 3: 83 Siemens Gamesa Turbines of 11 MW Each
The wind farm is located around 72 kilometres off the German North Sea coast and is owned in equal shares by Ørsted and Nuveen Infrastructure. A total of 83 Siemens Gamesa SG 11.0-200 DD wind turbines have been installed, each with a rated capacity of 11 MW and a rotor diameter of 200 metres.
Borkum Riffgrund 3 first fed electricity into the German transmission grid in December 2025 and has been in full commercial operation since the end of August 2026. Unlike at Borkum Riffgrund 3, commissioning of the individual turbines at EnBW's He Dreiht wind farm has not yet been completed. According to an IWR analysis of data from the Federal Network Agency's (Bundesnetzagentur) Core Energy Market Data Register (Marktstammdatenregister) as of September 17, 2026, a total of 97 offshore wind turbines with a combined capacity of 1,265 MW were newly commissioned in Germany up to the end of August 2026.
One technical feature is the direct connection of Borkum Riffgrund 3 to transmission system operator Tennet's DolWin epsilon converter platform. According to Ørsted, this is the first direct connection of an offshore wind farm to such a converter platform in Germany.
According to company information, around 100 German firms were involved in the development and construction of the wind farm. The turbines and foundations were sourced from Germany and Denmark, and the cables from Germany and France, among other countries. Operations and maintenance are carried out from Ørsted's sites in Norden-Norddeich and Emden.
Offshore Wind Farm Without EEG Support Payments – Long-Term Industrial PPAs Secure Offtake
Borkum Riffgrund 3 is one of the first offshore wind farms worldwide to have secured a contract award in a tender without support payments under Germany's Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG). The majority of its output is marketed to industrial and technology companies under long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs).
Ørsted has concluded PPAs totalling 786 MW for the wind farm. Offtakers include Amazon, Google, EHA/REWE Group, Covestro and BASF. Contract terms range from 10 to 25 years. The long-term agreements provide the wind farm with predictable revenue prospects and enable the participating companies to source renewable electricity.
Borkum Riffgrund 3 is Ørsted's sixth offshore wind farm in Germany and the company's largest German offshore project to date. With its commissioning, Ørsted's installed offshore wind capacity in Germany rises to around 2.5 GW. According to the company, this gives it a market share of around 25 percent.
Worldwide, Ørsted has around 11 GW of installed offshore wind capacity, with a further 7.2 GW under construction. In its international project development, the group focuses in particular on the European offshore wind market.
Source: IWR Online, Sep 09 2026