RWE has installed the world’s first offshore wind turbine featuring a CO₂ reduced steel tower and recyclable rotor blades. This marks a major milestone in the construction of the 1.1 gigawatt Thor offshore wind farm off Denmark’s west coast and represents a pioneering step towards further improving the sustainability performance of offshore wind. In total, 72 wind turbines, each with a capacity of up to 15 megawatts, will be installed by the end of 2026. Half of them will be equipped with steel towers produced with a lower carbon footprint, while 40 turbines will feature a total of 120 recyclable rotor blades.
Sven Utermöhlen, Chief Executive Officer RWE Offshore Wind: “Offshore wind already has one of the lowest life-cycle carbon footprints of power generation technologies. At RWE, our ambition is to go even further. By using towers produced with greener steel and recyclable rotor blades, we are further reducing the carbon footprint and taking a significant step towards fully circular offshore wind.”
Marc Becker, Senior Vice President of Siemens Gamesa Offshore: “This world-first is about moving circularity from promise to practice. RecyclableBlade is designed to enable composite materials to be recovered and recycled, addressing a growing end of life challenge. Together with GreenerTower, which lowers the carbon footprint of steel and reduces overall turbine emissions by around 20 percent, we are proving that sustainability can be delivered at scale in offshore wind, with safety, quality and certainty.”
Sustainable features: CO2-reduced steel towers and recyclable blades
RWE is the first company worldwide to use Siemens Gamesa’s GreenerTower. The tower plates are made from steel that produces at least 63 percent lower CO₂ emissions than conventional steel. The certified production process limits emissions by using renewable-powered furnaces and scrap steel, for example. In addition, Thor will feature Siemens Gamesa’s recyclable rotor blades. Thanks to an innovative resin, the composite materials in these blades can be separated and reused, for instance in new casting applications in the automotive or consumer goods industries. RWE is already using recyclable rotor blades at its offshore wind farms Kaskasi in Germany and Sofia in the UK.
Thor progressing according to plan
RWE is on track with the construction of Denmark’s largest offshore wind farm. Last year, the offshore substation and all the foundations were successfully installed. Turbine installation is well underway, and Thor recently delivered electricity to the Danish grid for the first time.
When fully operational in 2027, Thor will be capable of producing enough green electricity to supply the equivalent of more than one million Danish households. The wind farm’s operations and maintenance plan envisages creating 50 to 60 local jobs at a new RWE service building which was officially opened in March at the Port of Thorsminde.
Thor offshore wind farm is a joint project between RWE (51%) and Norges Bank Investment Management (49%). RWE is in charge of construction and operations throughout the lifecycle of Thor.
Leading global player in offshore wind
RWE already has 18 offshore wind farms in operation globally, including Rødsand 2, located south of the Danish island of Lolland. In addition to Thor in Denmark, the company is currently building three major offshore wind farms: the Sofia offshore wind farm (1.4 GW) in the UK, the Nordseecluster (1.6 GW, RWE share: 51%) off the German coast and OranjeWind (795 MW, RWE share: 50%) in the Netherlands.
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