The Netherlands: Construction of HelWin Beta Platform Advances

At Heerema Zwijndrecht, one of the manufacturing yards of Heerema Fabrication Group (HFG), fabrication of the HelWin bèta topsides for Siemens, yesterday reached the phase during which the transformer equipment will be installed outside.

In October 2012, Heerema Zwijndrecht started the construction of the 10,200 tons weighing HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) topsides, after contract award in June 2012 by Siemens. The contract comprises the Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation (EPCI) of the HelWin bèta platform, which includes topsides, jacket and bridge. The jacket is currently under construction at the Vlissingen yard.

Iv-Oil & Gas has been subcontracted to perform the design and engineering of the topsides, including the procurement of the non-high voltage equipment.  HFG’s engineering firm, HFG Engineering, is responsible for the jacket design and engineering. The topsides and jacket installation will be executed by HFG’s sister division Heerema Marine Contractors.

The HelWin bèta topsides measures 98 meter in length, 42 meter in width and 28 meter in height with a transmission capacity of 690 MW.  It is expected that the topsides will be ready for sail away to its offshore destination in the 3^rd quarter of 2014.

Koos-Jan van Brouwershaven, CEO of Heerema Fabrication Group, says: “The HelWin bèta platform showed a lot of challenges during the fabrication process to this moment. Nevertheless and thanks to our experienced and highly skilled workforce we were able to demonstrate our proven offshore experience to reach this important project milestone.  The contract will provide substantial employment for more than 2,000,000 man hours at our Zwijndrecht yard, with additional supply-chain jobs being created for other companies across this region and the Netherlands. This is considered particularly important during these challenging economic times.”

The converter platform is one of the main components of the TenneT DC offshore grid connection ‘HelWin2’. The connection with a capacity of 690 MW will connect a large wind farm cluster in the German sector of the North Sea.

[mappress]

Press release, December 15, 2013; Image: Heerema