ABB has reached an important milestone after installing the DolWin beta which is said to be the world’s most powerful offshore converter station in the North Sea.
The 320-kilovolt converter station is housed on an offshore platform and has 916 megawatts (MW) power transmission capacity.
It has enough energy to power more than 1million households with clean energy.
ABB chief executive Ulrich Spiesshofer said: “After the successful handover of the DolWin1 link in July, this is another key milestone in the execution of our offshore wind projects.
“It is a further example of our focus on relentless execution and of the ongoing progress in the Power Systems division’s Step Change program.”
The offshore converter station is part of the DolWin2 project which will be operated by transmission system operator TenneT and 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 the mainland.
The complete platform including substructure weighs around 23,000 tons and is around 100 meters long, 70 meters wide and 100 meters tall.
It was transported last year from Dubai, where it was built, to Aibel’s shipyard in Norway. Here, the platform was outfitted and one week ago sailed away to arrive after a short transportation phase of four days at its final destination in the DolWin cluster, 45 kilometers off the German coast.
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