World’s largest wind turbines set sail for first subsidy-free offshore wind farm

The largest wind turbines yet to be installed are bound for the 1.5GW Hollandse Kust Zuid wind farm located in the Dutch North Sea, the world’s first subsidy-free offshore wind farm.

The Siemens Gamesa 11MW wind turbines are the biggest in the world to be installed to date, although even larger turbines are being developed by all major wind turbine manufacturers.

These 11MW turbines have a rotor diameter of 200-metres and a total height of 225-metres (from sea level to the top of the blade).

Danish offshore wind installation experts Cadeler will transport all 140 of the 11MW wind turbines to the location of Vattenfall’s 1.5GW Hollandse Kust Zuid offshore wind farm, which is expected to be fully operational by 2023.

Its windfarm Installation Vessel (WIV) Wind Osprey set sail from the Port of Rotterdam over the weekend loaded up with the first batch of the 11MW wind turbines.

The 160-metre-long Wind Osprey has a 50-metre-tall crane and an auxiliary 40-metre-tall crane to help install the machinery.

The 1.5GW Hollandse Kust Zuid offshore wind farm is the first subsidy-free offshore wind farm to begin construction.

“Winning the bid for Hollandse Kust Zuid is a result of our continuous cost reduction efforts along our entire value chain and the solid track record and portfolio approach of our company,” said Gunnar Groebler, senior vice president business area wind at Vattenfall, in 2018.