RWE says its two Norfolk wind farms will begin offshore construction in early 2027; The Guardian reports the developer is checking Greenpeace boulders near the site.
The projects, Vanguard East and Vanguard West, have a combined capacity of about 2.8 gigawatts and are expected to be fully commissioned in 2030, according to RWE’s Nov. 11 announcement. RWE and KKR announced that financing had closed.
The National Wealth Fund committed two £500 million amounts, one for each project, within a £12.8 billion financing package involving 35 international banks. RWE itemized the package as £11.1 billion in cash facilities and £1.7 billion in ancillary facilities, and put total project investment at about £12 billion.
RWE says the farms could produce enough electricity to match the needs of around 3 million UK homes. The National Wealth Fund said projects awarded contracts in Allocation Round 7 require substantial financing, and that its lending expands the capital available to developers.
The Guardian reported Greenpeace placed about 15 metric tons of boulders, most on the site earmarked for the Norfolk Vanguard project. Greenpeace says the placements aim to protect harbor porpoises in the Southern North Sea Marine Protected Area from bottom trawling. The Guardian reported RWE is discussing the rocks’ locations with Greenpeace and considering whether they could affect construction or undersea cables. Will McCallum, co-executive director of Greenpeace UK, said developers routinely remove natural seabed boulders when building wind farms and argued the Greenpeace rocks should not pose an unusual obstacle.
The Guardian reported that the boulders are expected to be removed within months and that industrial fishing may shift elsewhere to avoid the construction zone. Greenpeace placed boulders in the Dogger Bank protected area in 2020, as EconoTimes’ earlier coverage of the campaign reported. RWE plans to install Vanguard West’s first foundations in the first half of 2027, followed by Vanguard East.
