Expansion
Sif has reached the final investment decision to build the world's largest monopile manufacturing plant in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The current offshore wind ambitious are big and Sif wants to play an important role in this, supporting our vision of accelerating the growth of offshore wind as a key driver of the world's energy transition. On this page you can find the most important information, which will be updated regularly.
Why will we expand?
The EU has set the target to increase offshore wind energy from the current 27 GW to a total of 300 GW in 2050. From our research, it has become clear that monopiles will remain the preferred foundation for offshore wind farms with water depths of up to 60 m. As offshore wind turbines will continue growing, the need for bigger foundations has arised. The expansion supports the realization of our vision and mission to accelerate the energy transition by being the best monopile solution provider, through innovation, engineering and excellent manufacturing.
What will the expansion look like?
The construction is expected to start in the second quarter of 2023, with a full ramp-up planned in 2025. The upgraded plant will significantly increase the total combined capacity for Roermond and Rotterdam to 500 kton per year. This means that we will be able to manufacture 200 XXXL monopiles with a diameter of 11 m and a weight of 2,500 kton.
The expansion will allow Sif to optimise its manufacturing footprint and optimise production between its two plants. Roermond will manufacture primary steel for transition pieces and top sections of monopile foundations up to a maximum diameter of 9.0 meters.
Roermond-manufactured top sections will be combined with bottom section in Rotterdam. The Rotterdam set-up will be able to execute the entire manufacturing process including plate preparations, rolling, welding, assembly, coating and logistics, benefiting from a unique location with a 600 m deap-sea quay, RoRo quay, and 62 hectares of storage and transshipment area with direct access to the North Sea. The production process is designed with a minimal environmental impact in mind. This is achieved by using green fuel, induction heating and environmentally conscious waste processing among other things.
Follow detailed construction updates in the articles on this page.
By constructing the world’s largest monopile foundation manufacturing plant Sif will live up to its vision and take a pivotal step in securing the next phase of growth for the Company. We will strengthen our absolute global leadership position as monopile foundations solutions provider, enhance our innovative skills and create long term value for all our stakeholders.
Sif has two manufacturing facilities equipped with 47 Sif-designed welding machines and 8 rollers.
The Roermond plant, which covers more than 100,000 square metres, specializes in the manufacture of cans and cones, transition pieces, pin piles, legs and pile sleeves with a wall thickness of up to 160 mm.