Germany’s Largest Offshore Wind Farm Takes Shape: Vattenfall Completes Foundation Installation for Nordlicht I Ahead of Schedule

Berlin - Vattenfall has completed the installation of all 68 foundations ahead of schedule at the Nordlicht I offshore wind farm in the German North Sea. With an installed turbine capacity of 1,020 MW, Nordlicht I is currently set to become Germany’s largest offshore wind farm.

Construction progress at Nordlicht I comes at a time of growing uncertainty over the further development of offshore wind in Germany. According to an industry forecast, the statutory expansion target of 30 GW is likely to be reached only in 2032 instead of 2030. At the same time, the economic viability of projects that have already been awarded contracts is increasingly at the centre of the debate over future investment conditions.

Nordlicht I: Foundation Installation Completed – Manufacturing of Further Components Under Way

After the last monopile was anchored in the seabed at the end of September, all transition pieces have now also been installed. This completes a key construction phase at sea. The monopiles were supplied by EEW Special Pipe Constructions and the transition pieces by CS WIND Offshore. The Belgian company DEME was responsible for transport and installation.

Work on the remaining components is under way in parallel. Vestas is already manufacturing tower segments, the first of which have been delivered to Esbjerg, Denmark. Cable production at TKF has also begun. Production of the rotor blades and nacelles is scheduled to start in the coming months.

The Nordlicht I offshore wind farm is being built around 85 kilometres north of Borkum. It will comprise 68 Vestas V236-15.0 MW turbines with a capacity of 15 MW each. Their combined rated capacity is 1,020 MW, while the grid connection capacity is 980 MW. The 40 MW oversizing is intended to make better use of the grid connection. The currently largest German offshore wind farm, EnBW’s He Dreiht, has 64 turbines of the same type, with 960 MW of installed capacity and 900 MW of grid connection capacity.

A further 44 turbines with a total installed capacity of 660 MW and a grid connection capacity of 630 MW are planned for Nordlicht II. Together, the cluster thus reaches 1,680 MW of turbine capacity and 1,610 MW of grid connection capacity, respectively. The final investment decision for Nordlicht I was taken in March 2025, and for Nordlicht II in January 2026. First power is expected from 2028, with full commissioning of the cluster planned for 2029. Vattenfall expects annual generation of around 6 TWh.

Offshore Expansion: 30 GW Target Likely Not Reached Until 2032

At the end of September 2026, 1,815 offshore wind turbines with a total of 11,598.7 MW were in operation in Germany, according to an IWR analysis of the Market Master Data Register of the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA). In the first nine months, 137 turbines with 1,865.3 MW were connected to the grid. Around 18.4 GW is therefore still missing to reach the statutory target of at least 30 GW in 2030.

According to the joint half-year review by the offshore industry associations, the 30 GW mark is likely to be reached only in 2032. The decisive factor is not only how many sites are tendered, but whether awarded projects can be implemented economically.

At a Bundestag hearing on the planned reform of the Offshore Wind Energy Act (WindSeeG) on November 2, 2026, the transmission system operators TenneT, 50Hertz and Amprion pointed to uncertainties over the realisation of around 16 GW of offshore capacity from the awards of 2023 to 2025. They called for rules that would allow the swift return of projects that cannot be realised.

WindSeeG Reform: New Tender Model and Differing Positions

With the amendment to the WindSeeG, the federal government intends to change the tender model. The first step is to test whether offshore sites can be awarded successfully without state revenue support. If this tender stage fails, two-sided contracts for difference (CfDs) are to be used. These guarantee operators an agreed reference revenue: if relevant market revenues fall below it, they receive compensation payments; if they exceed it, operators must pay back the difference. In addition, the regular operating period for new offshore wind farms is to be extended from 25 to 35 years.

The Bundesverband Windenergie Offshore (BWO) and the Bundesrat reject the two-stage tender model and favour CfDs as the standard. The BWO also calls for CfDs to be indexed to account for cost increases. The Bundesrat also calls for a one-time voluntary option to return sites that have already been awarded, subject to strict conditions and financial penalties.

Professor Karl-Martin Ehrhart of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), invited as an expert witness, by contrast rejects an exclusive CfD model and favours a choice between state revenue support and market-based tenders.

For further offshore expansion, it will therefore be decisive whether the planned reform of the Offshore Wind Energy Act not only enables new investment but also helps ensure that projects already awarded are realised.

Source: IWR Online, Nov 11 2026