Dutch-German transmission grid operator TenneT has awarded a $1 billion order for the construction of an offshore power link to technology firm ABB.
Under the contract – the largest power transmission order in ABB’s history – ABB will supply a power link connecting offshore North Sea wind farms to the German mainland grid. The completed link will transmit enough energy to supply 1.5 million households with energy generated by wind farms.
The link will deploy the world’s largest offshore HVDC system with a rating of over 900 MW. ABB will design, engineer, supply and install the offshore platform, the offshore and onshore converter stations and the land and sea cable systems.
The new link will use ABB’s HVDC Light transmission technology to transport power from the 400 MW Gode Wind II and other North Sea wind farms to an offshore HVDC converter station, which will transmit the electricity to the onshore HVDC station at Dörpen on the German coast via 135 km of underwater and underground cables. A converter station here will feed electricity into the mainland grid.
The order is the third of its kind for ABB, which last year was awarded a contract for the 800 MW Dolwin 1 link. It is also building the Borwin 1 link, which is scheduled to start operating next year.
The new link is scheduled to be operational in 2015 and will play an important role in Germany’s plans to boost its renewable energy capacity.
Germany’s installed wind power capacity stands at over 27 GW and the country has plans to double that by 2020.
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