- RWE has installed 36 out of 72 monopile foundations for the 1GW Thor offshore wind farm in the Danish North Sea, reaching the halfway milestone in the €3 billion project.
- Thor will power over one million Danish homes and feature sustainable elements like recyclable blades and low-carbon steel.
RWE said on Tuesday, July 15, it has installed half of the monopile foundations for its 1-gigawatt Thor offshore wind farm in the Danish North Sea, marking a significant milestone in the €3 billion project.
The company installed 36 out of 72 monopiles at the site 22 kilometres off the west coast of Jutland. Once completed, Thor will become Denmark’s largest offshore wind farm.
“With Thor, we are building Denmark’s largest offshore wind farm to date,” said Sven Utermöhlen, CEO of RWE Offshore Wind. “Reaching halfway in safely installing the monopiles is a great achievement. I thank all colleagues and partners involved.”
Meanwhile, each monopile measures around 100 metres and weighs up to 1,500 tonnes, roughly the weight of 1,000 small cars, RWE said.
The foundations are shipped from the Port of Eemshaven in the Netherlands. Secondary steel structures, including boat landings and platforms, are managed through the Danish Port of Thyboron, which hosts RWE’s construction logistics centre.
Furthermore, RWE said the Thor project features several sustainability measures. These include reused monopile covers, low-carbon steel towers for 36 turbines, and recyclable rotor blades on half of the units.
The company plans to install turbines from the Port of Esbjerg in 2026. Once operational in 2027, Thor will generate enough green electricity to power more than one million Danish homes.
RWE expects the operations and maintenance phase to create 50 to 60 local jobs. The company is building a new service hub in the Port of Thorsminde, with completion scheduled for the end of 2025.
RWE owns 51% of the 1,080MW project, while Norges Bank Investment Management holds the remaining 49%. RWE is leading construction and will operate the wind farm for its entire lifetime.
The company operates 19 offshore wind farms globally, including the 207MW Rodsand 2 site in southern Denmark. RWE is also building three other large-scale offshore projects: the 1.4GW Sofia project in the UK, the 1.6GW Nordseecluster in Germany, and the 795MW OranjeWind project in the Netherlands.