Dragados Offshore Cracks Offshore Wind Market with Hornsea Project 1 Jackets

DONG Energy has awarded Dragados Offshore, a Spanish engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor and a part of the ACS Group, with a contract to deliver four substation jackets for the 1.2GW Hornsea Project One offshore wind farm in the UK.

The scope of work awarded to Dragados Offshore is the procurement and fabrication of the jackets and piles of three offshore substations and a reactive compensation substation (RCS). Dragados Offshore will initiate the project immediately, and delivery of the jackets is scheduled for early 2018.

The contract is considered a major milestone as it initiates Dragados Offshore activities into the offshore wind industry.

Hornsea Project One will be located approximately 120 kilometres off the Yorkshire coast and will cover approximately 407 square kilometers. Once completed it will be the world’s biggest offshore wind farm.

The project consists of 174 Siemens 7MW wind turbines, connected to three offshore collector substations and the RCS, the latter one located between the offshore wind farm and the shore.

The offshore collector substations transfer power from the incoming wind turbines’ medium voltage cables to high voltage, exporting it via the RCS onto the National Grid. The purpose of the RCS is to compensate for the reactive power generated in the wind farm power system.

DONG reached the Final Investment Decision to build the wind farm in February 2016.