Innogy has placed a conditional order for 100 14MW wind turbines for its Sofia offshore wind farm with Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy. Final investment decision on the wind farm – covering an area the size of the Isle of Man on the shallow area of the central North Sea known as Dogger Bank – is expected to be made in the first quarter of 2021.

The 14GW turbine was launched in May and it has a rotor diameter of 222m using 108m long blades.  At 1.4 GW, Sofia is the largest project in Innogy’s current development portfolio. Installation is expected to begin in 2024.

The Sofia project continues an offshore wind partnership with Innogy SE that began with Greater Gabbard, fully commissioned in 2013.

Siemens Gamesa said each of the turbines’ 108m long IntegralBlade is cast in one piece and the turbine’s swept area is equivalent to approximately 5.5 standard football pitches.

The 14MW turbine will first be installed at  the 342MW Kaskasi plant in the German North Sea. This project takes the total conditional order backlog for the new SG 14-222 DD platform to 4.3GW, following additional conditional orders recently announced in Taiwan and the USA.