The offshore installation of the substation, manufactured in Bremerhaven, northern Germany, was completed on 14. April.
“Alstom is proud to make another important contribution to implementing the energy turnaround with our project teams in Germany," said Wolfgang Voss, Member of the Board for ALSTOM Deutschland AG. "In addition to this successful installation at Borkum wind park, the installation of the Global Tech 1 offshore substation is imminent and the offshore substation platforms for the Baltic 2 and Meerwind wind farms are currently available in the form of a steel bodyshell. This is impressive evidence of our leading position in this field.”
Borkum is a 56 square-kilometre wind farm, located around 45 kilometres north of the Borkum coast. The wind farm consists of 80 wind turbines with a total power of 400 MW to be installed at water depths of 25 to 35 metres in two expansion stages.
After the completion of the first expansion stage with a performance of 200 MW, it will generate up to 800 million KW hours (KWh) of energy a year; enough to supply almost 200,000 households with power.
Alstom’s offshore substation platform connects the turbines to the onshore power grid at the connection point. The full scope of the contract includes a F351 gas-insulated substation and two 225 MVAr transformers for the platform. Alstom’s Dresden site (Saxony) was in charge of project management, while teams at Mönchengladbach (North Rhine-Westphalia) delivered the transformers. WeserWind Offshore Construction GmbH in Bremerhaven produced the steel structure for the platform.
The project connects the North Sea wind farms to the mainland Supergrid and has an investment volume of more than €1 billion. Alstom will supply and construct both the onshore and offshore converter stations as well as the connecting cable systems as a turnkey solution.
The Borkum wind farm is being constructed by Trianel in association with 33 municipal participators from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, making it the first municipal offshore wind farm in the North Sea. The total investment sum for both expansion stages of the wind farm is around €1.6 billion. It is scheduled to enter commercial operation in late 2013.
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