TenneT Picks DolWin5 Team

German transmission system operator TenneT has awarded the Aibel/Keppel FELS consortium with a contract to supply the HVDC platform and an onshore converter station of the DolWin5 offshore grid connection project. 

ABB will supply the complete HVDC electrical power system for the 900MW platform which is scheduled for delivery in the third quarter of 2024.

Aibel’s scope within the consortium is the engineering and procurement and Keppel FELS’s yard in Singapore will be constructing the converter platform.

After transportation from Singapore to Haugesund, Aibel will install ABB’s HVDC conversion equipment, including commissioning, transport and installation of the complete converter platform offshore.

“With this award, we maintain our position as a preferred supplier in the offshore wind segment and strengthen our position in the ongoing energy industry transformation,” said President & CEO of Aibel, Mads Andersen.

“Keppel and Aibel have cooperated on a project basis for several years, and we are pleased to jointly land this contract. Equally important is having the opportunity to continue our collaboration with ABB, a valued partnership we have had for almost ten years. It is exciting to see that we now succeed with Aibel’s new platform concept incorporating the latest generation of ABB’s equipment.”

DolWin5 will be installed in the DolWin cluster on the German sector of the North Sea, where the other three DolWin platforms are operating. Among them is DolWin beta, Aibel’s first wind platform delivered in 2015.

Similar to the DolWin beta, the concept utilized in the new platform, DolWin epsilon, is the Aibel patented ‘Gravity Base Structure’ anchored to the seabed by gravity alone.

The DolWin5 will collect the electricity generated at three offshore wind farms and feed it into the German national grid.

Tim Meyerjürgens, COO of TenneT, said: “With DolWin5 we open a new chapter in offshore grid connection technology: For the first time we will realize a direct connection between the wind turbines and TenneT’s offshore platform without any further substations. We are convinced to have found an experienced partner with the consortium of Aibel and Keppel FELS with whom TenneT will be able to accomplish this innovative project successfully.”

Photos: Aibel