The He Dreiht wind farm (Low German for “It spins”) is located roughly 90 kilometers northwest of the island of Borkum and 110 kilometers west of Helgoland. It is our third offshore wind farm in the North Sea and by far the largest: 64 wind turbines with an installed output of 960 megawatts (MW) can supply the equivalent of more than one million households with renewable energy for an entire year. This makes He Dreiht Germany’s largest offshore wind farm to date.
The He Dreiht offshore wind farm has been fully built, with all 64 wind turbines now installed, giving us reason to celebrate. That is exactly what we did on 17 September 2026 at the official inauguration ceremony – together with guests from the political sphere, business world and wider society, including Carsten Schneider, Federal Minister for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. After all, He Dreiht isn’t just any old wind farm – it is one of the most important projects for being able to supply Germany with renewable electricity.
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An overview of the He Dreiht North Sea wind farm
The He Dreiht wind farm is located in the middle of the North Sea – about 85 kilometers northwest of Borkum and 110 kilometers west of Helgoland – not far from our North Sea wind farms EnBW Hohe See and Albatros.
In terms of its construction, however, He Dreiht is on a completely new scale, with 64 Vestas V236-15.0 MW wind turbines, each boasting a capacity of 15 MW, being used for the first time. The turbines boast a hub height of 142 meters and a rotor diameter of 236 meters. One rotation of these giants is enough to supply the equivalent of four households with electricity for a day. In total, the farm can supply the equivalent of 1.1 million households with electricity for an entire year.
Offshore wind farm with no state funding
Back in 2017, we were awarded the contract for He Dreiht in the first round of auctions for offshore wind farms in Germany, with no entitlement to state funding. We secured long-term financing of 600 million euros for the major project – which is costing in the region of 2.4 billion euros – from the European Investment Bank, one of the world’s largest financial backers of climate change mitigation and environmental projects. In addition, a minority shareholding of 49.9 percent was awarded to a consortium consisting of Allianz Capital Partners on behalf of Allianz companies, AIP and Norges Bank.
We are also marketing the electricity through long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs). Corresponding purchase agreements have already been signed with partners such as the operating company of Frankfurt Airport (Fraport), Evonik, Salzgitter, Bosch, Deutsche Bahn, Telekom subsidiary PASM, SHS-Stahl-Holding Saar and Google.
Natural and environmental concerns considered
When planning and building an offshore wind farm, we are aware of our particular duty toward the environment and nature, and we tailor our projects accordingly. This is especially important in a sensitive habitat like the German North Sea. An environmental impact assessment was therefore carried out as part of the approval process for the He Dreiht offshore wind farm. An easy-to-understand, non-technical summary of the findings can be found here (only available in German).
He Dreiht: Technical Data
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Installed output
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960 MW
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Annual yield
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3.6 billion kWh
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Turbines
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64 Vestas V236-15.0 MW
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Foundations
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Monopiles
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Hub height
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142 meters
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Rotor diameter
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236 meters
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Swept area
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43,742 square meters = roughly 6 football fields
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Average wind speed
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10,4 m/s
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Water depth
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37.7–40.6 meters
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A Comparison of EnBW's Offshore Wind Farms
Construction work got underway on He Dreiht, Germany’s largest offshore wind farm, in May 2024. At peak times, more than 500 people worked on this large construction site in the middle of the sea. Over 60 vessels were involved. A look back in pictures.
17 September 2026: Peter Heydecker (COO, EnBW), Katharina Fegebank (Hamburg Senator for the Environment), Dr. Peter Tschentscher (First Mayor of Hamburg), Carsten Schneider (Federal Environment Minister) and Dr. Georg Stamatelopoulos (CEO, EnBW) (from left) celebrate in Hamburg the end of the construction work. (Photo: EnBW / Photographer Rolf Otzipka)
12 August 2026: All done: The task of installing all 64 wind turbines is complete. The wind turbines, each with an output of 15 megawatts, were installed by the manufacturer Vestas. (Image: EnBW / photographer Rolf Otzipka).
19 February 2026: The “Wind Keeper” takes over from the “Wind Orca” as the installation vessel for the wind turbines. Due to the bad weather conditions, it will still be some time before it can fully install the first wind turbines.
21 January 2026: The halfway stage is reached: 32 out of a total of 64 wind turbines have been installed in the North Sea. The installation vessel “Wind Orca” had previously transported the components for three wind turbines at a time from the port of Esbjerg in Denmark to the wind farm and placed them on the foundations installed in the seabed. (Picture: EnBW / Weltenangler)"
24 October 2025: An autumn storm hits the He Dreiht construction site, unfortunately delaying the installation of the wind turbines.
01 September 2025: All inter-array cables for He Dreiht are successfully laid with Seaway7 and two installation vessels. We have laid a total of around 100 kilometers of cable in the North Sea, connecting the 64 wind turbines with each other and creating the connection to the converter platform managed by TenneT. (Picture: EnBW / Weltenangler)
07 August 2025: A summer storm sweeps over the construction site of our He Dreiht offshore wind farm. Lightning strikes are a common occurrence on offshore wind turbines. However, the turbines’ lightning protection systems are designed to conduct the lightning current safely away without causing any damage. (Image: EnBW / Leon Robson, Vestas)
May 2025: The heavy-duty vessel “Pioneering Spirit” positions the BorWin epsilon converter platform – weighing more than 12,000 metric tons – on its jacket with millimeter precision. (Image: TenneT)
24 April 2025: A world premiere in technical terms – the largest 15 MW wind turbine available on the market from Vestas is used for the first time. A single rotation of the rotor is enough to supply four households with electricity for a day.
12 March 2025: After the winter break, Seaway7 installs the first of 64 submarine cables forming part of the inter-array cable network with a total length of 100 kilometers on behalf of EnBW.
27 August 2024: The final foundations are installed. (Image: EnBW / Michael Simon)
11 July 2024: We’re celebrating halftime: Half of all the foundations have been installed.
July 2024: The Thialf can only be accessed by helicopter.
27 May 2024: The first monopile is driven into the seabed in the middle of the night. In addition to the noise mitigation system, a double bubble curtain reduces the noise produced by the work. 1 of 64 – the marathon has begun. (Image: EnBW / Weltenangler)
26 May 2024: The noise mitigation system hanging on the crane shortly before use. It significantly reduces the amount of noise created during the installation of the monopiles for the He Dreiht offshore wind farm. (Image: EnBW / Weltenangler)
May 2024: The first monopiles and transition pieces arriving at the He Dreiht construction site. (Image: EnBW / Weltenangler)
May 2024: The “Thialf,” one of the world’s largest floating cranes, has arrived at the construction site and will begin installing the first foundations in the seabed in the next few days. (Image: EnBW / Weltenangler)
May 2024: Transporting the transition pieces for the He Dreiht offshore wind farm. (Image: EnBW / Magnus Reinke OIM)
May 2024: Three monopiles and three transition pieces are loaded onto a floating platform in Eemshaven, which is then towed to the construction site by a tugboat. (Image: EnBW / photographer Rolf Otzipka)
April 2024: EnBW employees Andrea Albers and Steffi Höper standing in a monopile with a view of the three transition pieces. (Image: EnBW / Magnus Reinke OIM)
April 2024: Supporting role – various people involved in the He Dreiht project in Bremerhaven. Also pictured: A monopile destined for He Dreiht with a diameter of nine meters and a length of 70 meters.
April 2024: Project manager Hartwig Schnöckel examines the metal, which is ten centimeters thick.
April 2024: The He Dreiht project team visits the site in Bremerhaven where the monopiles are produced.
Components from throughout Europe
Besides being one of the largest offshore projects in Europe, many of the components for He Dreiht were manufactured in various locations between Great Britain and Italy.
Grid connection: 120 kilometers to the coast via submarine cables
Kilometers of submarine cables, a converter platform and high-voltage DC cables to the mainland – the process of connecting the He Dreiht offshore wind farm to the grid was a mammoth task from a technical, logistical and organizational perspective. The Dutch-German grid operator TenneT connected the wind farm to the grid using an offshore converter station and two high-voltage DC export cables. It involved laying 120 kilometers of cable under water and a further 110 kilometers on land.
Find out more about the megaproject and the team
We were awarded the contract for “He Dreiht” in April 2017. Nine years later, Germany’s largest offshore wind farm is now complete. In the video, we show its history and present the people who made the project possible.
How are marine mammals actually protected on such a large offshore construction site? And what do the colleagues do on board once they have finished their shift? Who would have thought, for instance, that there would be a swimming pool on the giant crane vessel?
In mid-May, the first of the 64 foundations for what is currently the largest offshore wind farm was laid in the middle of the night. The rising sun then greeted the team early in the morning.
The giant crane ship and the “largest hammer in the world” – images of the construction work for the He Dreiht offshore wind farm. EnBW colleagues Michael and Jan are aboard the “Thialf” to lay the foundations for the wind turbines.