RWE, one of the world’s leading offshore wind companies, is delighted to announce that the first turbine has been successfully installed at its Sofia Offshore Wind Farm. This important milestone marks a key moment in the construction of one of RWE’s largest and most powerful wind farms.
The turbine installation vessel, Wind Peak, from Cadeler, arrived at the offshore site for the first time during the weekend of 22 March, where it started and has now completed the installation of the first turbine. During each vessel cycle, the Wind Peak will carry and install six sets of the latest SG 14-222 wind turbines, supplied by Siemens Gamesa.
Thomas Michel, COO RWE Offshore Wind said: “This is yet another great construction milestone for Sofia, one of RWE’s flagship offshore wind farms in the UK. The team and our contractors are making great progress with the construction work both onshore and offshore. We’re now looking forward to Sofia making a significant contribution to the UK’s Clean Power 2030 targets, after commissioning, which is expected in 2026.”
The Sofia Offshore Wind Farm will comprise 100 Siemens Gamesa 14MW turbines, making it one of the largest single offshore wind farms in the world. Sofia will generate enough renewable energy to power the equivalent of up to 1.2m typical UK homes. It is on course to be fully operational in the second half of 2026. The turbines are the engine room of RWE’s 1.4 gigawatts offshore wind farm. Each one stands over 252 metres above sea level, with blades of 108 metre sweeping an area of 39,000 square metres, which is equivalent to about 5.5 standard UK football pitches.
In a step forward for the offshore wind sector, half of the turbine blades to be installed on the Sofia project will be recyclable. This represents a pioneering step toward full lifecycle sustainability for an offshore wind farm and aligns with RWE’s sustainability ambitions.
Images for media use are available from the RWE Media Centre (Credit: RWE).