Malaysian Contractor to Build Nederwiek 1 HVDC Offshore Platform

June 4, 2024, by Adnan Memija

Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Holdings Berhad (MHB), through its wholly-owned subsidiary Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering (MMHE), has secured a subcontract to build an offshore substation (OSS) high-voltage direct current (HVDC) platform required for TenneT’s 2 GW programme in the Netherlands.

Under the subcontract awarded by Petrofac, the Malaysian company will be responsible for the construction engineering, fabrication, mechanical completion, load out and sea fastening, and architectural works of the platform. The OSS HVDC platform will be built for Nederwiek 1, a Dutch transmission system that is part of TenneT’s 2 GW programme.

The OSS platform consists of a topside, weighing approximately 30,000 tonnes (including equipment) and a jacket, weighing about 10,000 tonnes.

The duration of the project is approximately 36 months, with fabrication to commence in 2025 and completed by 2028.

For MHB, this is their second offshore wind contract after they secured the first one in November 2023 for the manufacturing of the OSS HVDC platform for the IJmuiden Ver Alpha project in the Netherlands.

In addition, MHB and Petrofac said they will collaborate towards the possibility of another OSS of similar size.

Petrofac, together with Hitachi Energy, secured the contract for the Nederwiek 1 converter stations at the end of last year.

IJmuiden Ver Alpha and Nederwiek 1 are offshore grid connection systems operated by TenneT that will link two future offshore wind farms in the Dutch North Sea to the province of Zeeland in the southwestern part of the Netherlands.

With 40 GW of new offshore grid connections, TenneT will account for almost two-thirds of the 65 GW offshore wind energy target by 2030 agreed by Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Belgium in the Esbjerg Declaration signed in May 2022.

The TSO will build 20 GW in each of the German and Dutch sectors of the North Sea with its new 2 GW programme.