MHI Vestas Orders ABB Transformers for Moray East Turbines

ABB has won an order from MHI Vestas Offshore Wind to supply its WindSTAR transformers for installation in wind turbines on the 950MW Moray East wind farm offshore Scotland.

Under the project, 100 transformers manufactured in ABB’s transformer factory in Vaasa, Finland, will be supplied for Moray Offshore Renewable Power’s Moray East offshore wind project.

Located in Moray Firth, some 22 kilometers off the coast of Scotland, the 295 square kilometer Moray East wind farm will feature 100 MHI Vestas wind turbines with the individual capacity to generate 9.5MW of electricity at 66 kilovolts.

This will be made possible by ABB’s WindSTAR transformers that are compact enough to be placed inside the wind turbine. They will increase the voltage of the turbine-generated electricity to enable efficient transmission with reduced losses, ABB said.

ABB’s WindSTAR power transformers are designed to fit inside the wind turbine and can withstand strong vibrations, sudden movements and variable electrical loading, typical of wind power, according to ABB.

“ABB transformers are a critical factor in offshore wind electricity generation, helping to ensure an economically feasible and sustainable future for the industry,” said Laurent Favre, managing director of ABB’s Transformers business line, part of the company’s Power Grids business.

“Our innovative WindSTAR transformers are specially designed to meet specific application needs under the mechanical and structural constraints of offshore wind farms.”

In the last year, ABB has won two more orders for similar WindSTAR transformers for offshore wind projects by MHI Vestas: the Borssele 3 & 4 wind farms, off the coast of the Netherlands, and the Windfloat Atlantic floating wind farm in Portugal.