A consortium of Siemens Energy and Prysmian Powerlink has won an order worth more than 500 million Euros from transpower, the German transmission grid company. The BorWin2 offshore consortium will connect two North Sea offshore wind farms, Veja Mate and Global Tech 1, to the grid on behalf of transpower, a subsidiary of the Dutch grid operator TenneT. The wind farms, which will have a combined power generating capacity of up to 800 MW, will be connected to the grid via an HVDC submarine cable link. The Veja Mate and Global Tech 1 wind farms are located 125 km northwest of the island of Borkum.
Siemens will be supplying the world’s largest voltage source converter to the project and will make the link usin its HVDC Plus technology.
The converter will be installed on an offshore platform, where the voltage level will be stepped up from 155 kV to 300 kV alternating current (AC) and then converted to direct current (DC) at the same voltage level. It will accommodate the HVDC converter, two transformers, four AC cable compensation reactors and high-voltage gas-insulated switchgear. The substation will be designed as a floating, self-lifting platform, to be towed by tugs to its destination at sea, where the water is about 40 m. By virtue of its design a crane vessel is not needed to lift the topside onto its foundation. Ppower will becarried via submarine and land cable to Diele near Papenburg substation for DC/AC conversion to the 400 kV AC grid.
Design and engineering should be completed by mid-2011, with building works in 2011 and final installationplanned for mid-2012. Cable laying is scheduled for completion in 2012 with operation starting in 2013.
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