Siemens Energy has won its largest grid connection order in company history, which will connect Amprion’s DolWin4 and BorWin4, both located in the North Sea. The grid connections run roughly parallel to one another and are slated to be placed in operation in 2028, one year ahead of schedule for BorWin4.
Germany-based Siemens is building two AC-to-DC converter platforms with associated stations on land, and a high-voltage direct current transmission cable (HVDC cable) for power transmission. Another land-based, DC-to-AC converter platform helps the offshore wind farms transmit their green energy with lower line losses across distances of 215 kilometers (133 miles) in the case of DolWin4, and 280 kilometers (180 miles) in the case of BorWin4.
With this grid connection, the wind farms will be able to meet the demand of a major city like Hamburg with 1.8 million inhabitants. The order value is in the high three-digit million-euro range, making it the largest offshore grid connection order Siemens Energy has received to date.
Since the transmission grid in the coastal region of Lower Saxony is already heavily used by numerous wind farms, the connection points for the links are located far inland. Siemens Energy will build the land converter stations near Amprion's Hanekenfähr substation in Lingen in southern Emsland. The grid hub currently connects the Emsland nuclear power plant to the transmission grid, which is scheduled to be shut down at the end of 2022. DolWin4 and BorWin4 will replace the generation capacity, thus eliminated with 1.8 GW of offshore wind energy.
In addition to supplying the technology, Siemens Energy will also take over the complete maintenance of the converter solutions for an initial period of 10 years. All high-voltage equipment for the two connection systems, such as converter technology, transformers, and switchgear, will be manufactured by Siemens Energy in Europe.
The Spanish consortium partner Dragados Offshore S.A. (a subsidiary of the VINCI Group) is responsible for the design, construction, and offshore installation of the associated platforms. Construction will take place at the company's yard in Cádiz, Spain.
Nine of the current 15 HVDC grid connection projects in the German North Sea use Siemens Energy technology.
