German offshore wind foundation manufacturer Steelwind has shipped off the first three monopile foundations for Ørsted’s Gode Wind 3 project in Germany. The offshore wind farm will comprise 23 XXL monopiles which will be connected to the wind turbines without transition pieces (TPs).

The first batch of the TP-less foundations was shipped from Steelwind’s manufacturing site in Nordenham, Germany, to the Port of Eemshaven in the Netherlands this week, ahead of the installation work that is scheduled to start this summer.

“With the completion and successful shipping of the first three foundations, we are rapidly approaching the start of construction of our projects in the summer. This logistically expensive and complex process got off to a very good start thanks to the great cooperation and we are fully focused on continuing this just as safely and smoothly together with Steelwind in the coming weeks”, said Stefan Eckelmann, Senior Project Manager at Ørsted in Germany.

Steelwind is producing 66 of the total 107 XXL monopiles Ørsted ordered for its 242 MW Gode Wind 3 and the 900 MW Borkum Riffgrund 3 offshore wind farms that the company is building simultaneously in the German sector of the North Sea. The remaining 41 are being manufactured by Bladt Industries in Denmark.

The steel for the foundations being delivered by Steelwind is provided by Dillinger, the manufacturer’s parent company. According to Ørsted, by using TP-less monopile foundations, less material is required in steel production, as well as less maintenance during the operation of the wind farms.

Jan De Nul is in charge of the transport and installation of the 107 monopile foundations and the secondary steel which will be delivered by Smulders.

The offshore construction company recently announced that it had selected BOW Terminal’s marshalling yard in Eemshaven for the Gode Wind 3 and Borkum Riffgrund 3 offshore wind projects.

Following the installation of the monopiles at the Gode Wind 3 and Borkum Riffgrund 3 sites, wind turbine installation is expected to start in the summer of next year. The wind farms will feature Siemens Gamesa’s 11 MW turbines, which will be the first time they are installed in Germany.