TenneT has awarded contracts worth nearly €23bn for 11 grid connections to three consortia to connect certain offshore wind farms in the German and Dutch parts of the North Sea to shore.
Each of the grid connections will have a capacity of 2GW.
The contracts given by the Dutch-German transmission system operator (TSO) have been secured by consortia involving Hitachi Energy, Petrofac, General Electric (GE), Sembcorp Marine Offshore Platforms (SMOP), and McDermott.
Under the contracts, the companies will deliver offshore platforms and onshore stations along with the high-voltage direct current (HVDC) systems for the two-way conversion between alternating and direct currents.
The multiyear agreements are expected to connect three German offshore wind farms and eight offshore wind farms in the Netherlands by 2031.
Hitachi Energy and Petrofac in consortium secured five Dutch projects, which includes connecting the IJmuiden Ver Alpha and Nederwiek 1 facilities in Borssele. The Doordewind 1 and Doordewind 2 wind farms will be connected in Eemshaven while the Nederwiek 3 wind farm will be connected either in Geertruidenberg or Moerdijk.
The two companies will also complete the German connection LanWin5 which will be connected in Rastede. The contract value of the consortium is nearly €13bn.
As part of the contract, Petrofac will deliver the engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) of the offshore platforms and elements of the onshore converter stations.
Hitachi Energy will be responsible to supply its HVDC light converter stations to convert AC to DC offshore and DC to AC onshore.
Petrofac group chief executive Sami Iskander said: “By combining Petrofac’s industry-leading EPCI expertise and Hitachi Energy’s well proven technology, we look forward to supporting TenneT to connect larger, more effective wind farms to deliver affordable clean energy for millions of European homes.”
The GE and SMOP consortium secured contract worth around €6bn to connect the three Dutch offshore projects IJmuiden Ver Beta, IJmuiden Ver Gamma, and Nederwiek 2 in Maasvlakte, Rotterdam.
The third consortium, which is between GE and McDermott, will undertake the German projects BalWin4 and LanWin1 under a contract worth around €4bn. The projects will be connected in Unterweser.
TenneT said that it aims to award contracts for the BalWin3, LanWin4, and LanWin2 projects shortly.
TenneT large projects offshore director Marco Kuijpers said: “The new long term approach goes hand in hand with a fundamental change in values towards a strong partnership. This approach enables both sides with more flexibility, technological progress, and planning security.
“This benefits all parties and secures employment, growth, and the strengthening of supply chains. We can already see that our partners invest in extra resources and facilities.”
