ABB, the Swiss-based leading power and automation technology group, began its installation of the world’s most powerful offshore converter station in the North Sea on Monday to ensure reliable electricity transmission to mainland Germany.
According to the announcement, the 320-kilovolt converter station, housed on an offshore platform, has a 916 megawatts (MW) power transmission capacity, making it the world's most powerful installation of its kind, enough to power more than one million households with clean energy.
The offshore converter station is part of the DolWin2 project which will be operated by transmission system operator TenneT. The station will connect offshore wind farms in the North Sea’s DolWin cluster, currently the largest offshore wind farm cluster worldwide, with the German grid.
The main function of the station will be to convert the electricity generated by the offshore wind farms from alternating current (AC) into high-voltage direct current (HVDC) for efficient and reliable transmission to mainland Germany.
In the mean time, DolWin2 is part of Germany’s energy transition roadmap, called “Energiewende”, which foresees the generation of more than 6.5 gigawatts (GW) from offshore wind by 2020 and 15 GW by 2030.
Previously, the DolWin1 grid connection, which ABB commissioned and handed over to transmission system operator TenneT at the end of July 2015, also contributes to this goal.
The complete platform including substructure weighs around 23,000 tons and is around 100 meters long, 70 meters wide and 100 meters tall.
By Gulsen Cagatay
Anadolu Agency
gulsen.cagatay@aa.com.tr