OranjeWind monopile installation begins as RWE and TotalEnergies push 795MW Dutch project into construction

The OranjeWind monopile installation programme is under way in the Dutch North Sea, with the first of 53 foundations now driven into the seabed at the 795MW joint venture project developed by RWE and TotalEnergies. After years of planning, the project has moved from permits to piling, a transition that matters in a sector where consented capacity and installed capacity often diverge sharply.

OranjeWind monopile installation: how the first foundation went in

The first monopile was loaded out from Sif’s terminal at the Maasvlakte near Rotterdam and transported approximately 53 kilometres offshore to the site near IJmuiden. The Jan De Nul vessel Les Alizés handled both transport and installation, using dynamic positioning and a 5,000-tonne crane to lower the foundation before a hydraulic impact hammer drove it into the seabed.

Each of the 53 monopiles is about 90 metres long and 8 metres in diameter. Sif is supplying what the developers describe as transition piece-less foundations: turbines will be bolted directly to the monopile top flange rather than via a separate transition piece, which reduces the total amount of steel in the structure. Secondary steel components will be fitted to the foundations in a distinct offshore campaign.

RWE and TotalEnergies said installation of all 53 monopiles is expected to be completed by early 2027. Inter-array cables are scheduled for installation at the end of 2026, with the 53 turbines following during 2027. Full commissioning of the wind farm is expected in 2028.

One environmental detail is worth noting: the project is using a bubble curtain during piling to protect marine life from underwater noise, with measurements to be taken outside the curtain. That is now standard practice on Dutch offshore consents, but it is a practical constraint on piling windows that developers do not always foreground in their announcements.

Vestas turbines and the Eemshaven construction base

On turbine supply, NS Energy Business reported that Vestas will supply 53 V236-15.0 MW wind turbines for the project. At 15 MW per unit across 53 turbines, the nameplate arithmetic aligns with the 795MW project capacity, so there is no obvious gap between the turbine contract and the headline rating.

For the onshore logistics side of construction, RWE confirmed that Buss Terminal Eemshaven, in the northern Dutch province of Groningen, was selected as the base for turbine assembly and construction work. Eemshaven has become a recurring choice for North Sea offshore wind logistics, its position on the Ems estuary puts it within reasonable transit distance of Dutch and German offshore zones, but selection of a specific terminal is a decision that commits supply chain scheduling well before the first steel goes in the water.

The monopile supply from Sif at Maasvlakte and the turbine marshalling at Eemshaven mean the project is drawing on two distinct Dutch port clusters, which has some supply chain resilience logic to it, even if it complicates coordination.

What the developers are claiming

Sven Utermöhlen, CEO of RWE Offshore Wind, said the project had ‘become a reality with the installation of the first monopile’ after years of planning. The claim is fair: first steel in the water is a concrete milestone, not a ribbon-cutting.

Olivier Jouny, Senior Vice President Renewables at TotalEnergies, framed the project around two objectives: contributing to the Netherlands’ renewable electricity supply and producing green hydrogen for TotalEnergies’ refineries in Northern Europe. That second point deserves scrutiny on its own terms. The wind farm is expected to generate enough electricity to supply the equivalent of one million Dutch households per year once operational. How much of that output goes to grid supply and how much underpins a green hydrogen pathway (and on what timeline) is not detailed in the developers’ current announcements.

The hydrogen claim is a common feature of large offshore wind project communications in the North Sea region. It is not necessarily wrong, but it sits at a different stage of the project’s development from the monopile now on the seabed. The foundation is real. The hydrogen roadmap still needs its own commissioning date.