Offshore staff
PUERTO REAL, Spain – Amprion Offshore has commissioned a consortium of Dragados Offshore and Siemens Energy to construct the HVDC converter platforms for an offshore wind development in the German North Sea.
The LanWin1 and LanWin3 HVDC grid connection projects are the first 2-GW bi-pole converter systems awarded, as part of an electrical energy generation system in the area (Amprion is the transmission system operator).
The wind farms will be connected to both offshore stations via 66-kV AC direct connection systems, converting the power to 525 kV DC voltage for transmission to shore.
The LanWin1 and LanWin3 onshore HVDC converters will be located at the Wehrendorf and Westerkappeln grid connection points, where they are connected to the 380-kV links (yet to be built) for the AC transmission grid.
Dragados Offshore is responsible for providing the offshore platforms, its scope including detail design and engineering, procurement, fabrication, construction, load- out, transportation, installation and hook-up of both platforms, and installation and commissioning of their associated systems. According to the company, these will be the world’s first 2-GW HVDC converter station platforms.
The topsides will each weigh about 24,000 t, with the jackets weighing about 10,000 t. Siemens Energy’s responsibilities cover the HVDC systems and the onshore converter stations.
LanWin1 and LanWin3 should start commercial operation at the end of 2029 and 2030, respectively.
Dragado’s current HVDC project portfolio includes the DolWin6 platform, which is in the offshore completion phase; the BorWin5 platform under construction in Puerto Real, Spain (both for TenneT); and the DolWin4 and BorWin4 platforms, which are in the design phase, previously awarded by Amprion Offshore.
In a late January 2023 press release, Amprion Offshore said it renamed the two offshore grid connection systems LanWin1 and LanWin3. The reason for this is a change in the wind farm areas in the North Sea. In the future, the projects will be managed under the names BalWin1 and BalWin2. The company also said they are to be completed two or three years earlier than initially planned.
02.07.2023
