RWE has placed a firm order with Vestas for the 1,380 MW Norfolk Vanguard West offshore wind project in the UK. The agreement covers 92 V236-15.0 MW turbines, along with their installation and commissioning.
The contract also includes a five-year service arrangement, followed by a longer-term operational support agreement between RWE and Vestas.
RWE is targeting a final investment decision for Norfolk Vanguard West in summer 2026. Commissioning is expected in 2029.
Norfolk Vanguard West is situated about 47,000 m off the Norfolk coast in East Anglia. The project was originally developed by Vattenfall, which sold its three Norfolk Vanguard projects to RWE in 2023/2024 for around EUR 1.1 billion.
The firm order follows RWE securing a Contract for Difference in the UK’s Allocation Round 7 in January 2026. The UK government awarded 8.4 GW of offshore wind capacity in the round, with RWE projects accounting for 6.9 GW of that total.
For Norfolk Vanguard East and West, two Dogger Bank South projects, and the Awel y Môr offshore wind farm, RWE secured CfDs at a strike price of GBP 91.20/MWh (around EUR 105.3/MWh).
After the CfD award, RWE said it had agreed a partnership with KKR, under which the investor will take a 50% stake in each Norfolk Vanguard project. RWE also started raising non-recourse project finance debt for the two Norfolk Vanguard offshore wind farms, with both the partnership closing and project financing expected later in 2026.
During Vattenfall’s development phase, the three Norfolk Zone projects (Vanguard East and West, and Boreas) were linked to Siemens Gamesa turbines, before switching to Vestas’s V236-15 MW model shortly ahead of RWE’s takeover.
