ABB to Connect German Wind Farm to Mainland Grid

ABB, the leading power and automation technology group, has won a significant order from the Dutch-German transmission grid operator TenneT to supply an AC (alternating current) power transmission link connecting Nordergründe, an offshore North Sea wind farm, to the mainland grid in Germany. The order was booked in the first quarter.

The link has a capacity to transmit 111 megawatts (MW) of clean wind power – enough to serve the needs of more than 100,000 households and help save up to 500,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, once commissioned in 2013, by replacing fossil fueled generation.

“Offshore wind is a fast growing renewable energy resource in Europe, which helps address the need for more power while minimizing environmental impact,” said Brice Koch, head of ABB’s Power Systems division. “ABB provides a wide range of products, systems and services that enable the efficient generation and integration of renewables into the grid.”

As part of the project scope, ABB will design, engineer, supply and install the 155 kilovolt (kV) land and submarine cable system, the onshore and offshore shunt reactors, the onshore 155/220 kV power transformer and the extension of an existing 220 kV substation. The cable system comprises 3×4 kilometers of single-core AC land cable and 28 km of three core AC submarine cable with integrated fiber optics.

ABB has previously received three large orders from TenneT for offshore wind connections with its efficient HVDC Light technology. BorWin1 has already been commissioned and DolWin1 and DolWin2 are under execution. These three connections and Nordergründe were planned before 2011.

ABB has also successfully commissioned nine AC cable projects for offshore wind connections and others are under execution.

As one of the world’s leading high-voltage cable manufacturers ABB has extensive knowledge and experience across a range of applications including offshore wind farm connections, powering oil and gas platforms from shore, and underground or subsea interconnectors. The company recently announced investments of $90 million and $400 million in the US and Sweden, respectively, to increase production capacity of land and subsea cables.

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Offshore WIND staff, April 23, 2012; Image: abb