Ørsted has commenced commercial operations at Borkum Riffgrund 3, a 913MW offshore wind farm in the German North Sea.
The project, co-owned by Ørsted and Nuveen Infrastructure, is said to be one of the largest offshore projects currently operating in Germany.
Located around 72km from the German coastline, Borkum Riffgrund 3 consists of 83 wind turbines, each with a rated capacity of 11MW, and spans approximately 75km².
The commissioning of the facility forms a key part of Ørsted’s 8.1GW offshore wind construction programme, which will bring the company’s total installed offshore wind capacity to more than 18GW once completed.
With Borkum Riffgrund 3, Ørsted’s installed offshore wind power capacity in Germany now totals around 2.5GW.
According to the company, this capacity is enough to provide renewable electricity to around 2.5 million households.
Ørsted chief construction officer Patrick Harnett said: “With Borkum Riffgrund 3 now operational, we have delivered a landmark project for Germany and European offshore wind while making further progress on our 8.1GW construction portfolio.
“The project demonstrates how offshore wind at scale can bolster energy security across Germany and Europe by powering businesses and homes. We remain committed to building out offshore wind in Germany and Europe, our core market.
“Stable and predictable regulatory frameworks are essential to enabling further offshore wind investments that can strengthen energy resilience and sustain jobs across Europe.”
This marks Ørsted’s sixth operational offshore wind farm in Germany.
The new wind farm supplies energy under several long-term corporate power purchase agreements.
A combined 786MW from the wind farm is contracted to Amazon (350MW), BASF (186MW), Covestro (100MW), Energie-Handels-Gesellschaft/REWE Group (100MW) and Google (50MW).
The agreements, which have terms of between ten and 25 years, are intended to deliver electricity to sectors such as data centres, retail and chemicals.
Borkum Riffgrund 3 was developed with support from a wide European supply chain.
Wind turbines and foundations were supplied from Germany and Denmark, cables from Germany and France, and installation vessels from the Netherlands and Belgium.
Around 100 German companies were awarded contracts to support the wind farm’s construction.
The company is responsible for roughly 25% of Germany’s installed offshore wind capacity, with operations and maintenance managed from Norden-Norddeich and Emden in Lower Saxony.
In December 2025, the project commenced power generation, supplying its first electricity to the German grid.
“Ørsted’s Borkum Riffgrund 3 wind farm begins commercial operations” was originally created and published by Power Technology, a GlobalData owned brand.
