The topside for TenneT’s Hollandse Kust West Alpha offshore substation has left Equans fabrication yard in Hoboken, Belgium, and is on its way to its final destination in the Dutch North Sea.
The offshore transformer platform is being constructed by a joint venture between Iemants, a subsidiary of Smulders, and Equans (formerly known as ENGIE), under a contract signed with TenneT in 2020.
The first steel for the topside was cut in 2021 while the unit was completed last month at Equans’ yard in Hoboken.
The substation topside is now on its way to its final destination, located 50 kilometres off the coast of Egmond aan Zee in the Netherlands. The unit weighs approximately 3,600 tonnes and is 47 metres long, 35 metres wide, and 25 metres high.
The jacket foundation for the platform was delivered last year and installed at its location in August 2022 by DEME’s vessel Orion .
According to TenneT, Heerema Marine Contractors’ crane vessel Thialf will place the topside on the jacket later this week.
The transformer substation is scheduled to be commissioned in 2024 when it will be able to connect 700 MW of offshore wind capacity to the Dutch grid.
This is the third offshore substation that the Belgian companies are delivering to the Dutch transmission system operator (TSO).
The other two are the Hollandse Kust Noord substation, installed in October last year, and the Hollandse Kust West Beta platform .