Ørsted has obtained the planning approval from Germany’s Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) for the 242MW Gode Wind 3 offshore wind farm.
BSH planning approval completes the procurement of all the necessary approvals from the authorities for the project.
Gode Wind 3 project is planned to be located nearly 32km from the island of Norderney in Cluster 3 within the German North Sea exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
In March last year, Siemens Gamesa was chosen as the preferred turbine supplier for the project. The order includes supply of 23 turbines with a nominal output of 11MW and a rotor diameter of 200m.
Construction of the Gode Wind 3 is expected to be carried out simultaneously with the 900MW Borkum Riffgrund 3 project, whose approval is pending.
Gode Wind 3 project is planned to enter commercial operation in 2024, with commissioning of Borkum Riffgrund 3 to follow in 2025, said the company.
The Borkum Riffgrund 3 project will be located nearly 53km off the coast of Borkum Island, Germany. It is expected to generate enough clean electricity for approximately 920,000 German homes, while avoiding up to three million tonnes (Mt) of CO2 emissions annually.
Initially, Ørsted was awarded the projects in the offshore wind auctions of the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) in 2017 and 2018, as Gode Wind 3 and 4.
The two project companies have merged under the name Gode Wind 3 in 2019.
Ørsted has already completed the construction of Gode Wind 1 and 2 wind farms and brought them into operation at the end of 2016.
With a generating capacity of about 582MW, the two wind farms feature 97 turbines supplied by Siemens. The wind farms are estimated to meet the power needs of about 600,000 German households per year.
In March, Ørsted has commenced the full-scale offshore construction activities at the 900MW Greater Changhua 1 and 2a offshore wind farms in Taiwan.
