McDermott has commenced the construction of the 980MW BorWin6 high-voltage, direct current (HVDC) offshore grid connection project in Germany for transmission system operator TenneT.
The start of construction was marked by a first steel-cutting ceremony at McDermott’s Jebel Ali fabrication yard in Dubai, UAE.
The 235km long BorWin6 project will transmit electricity through underground cable by utilising low-loss direct current technology (DC) from the offshore converter station BorWin kappa to the onshore converter station located in Büttel, Schleswig-Holstein.
At the Büttel converter station, the direct current is converted into three-phase alternating current (AC) and sent into the extra-high voltage grid.
McDermott onshore senior vice president Vaseem Khan said: “We have successfully delivered engineering from our HVDC centre of excellence in The Hague, and are on track to begin construction for this important offshore grid connection project.
“During this next phase we will leverage our strategically located fabrication yards to drive execution excellence while maintaining our industry-leading safety record.”
In November 2022, TenneT awarded the contract for the offshore and onshore converter stations of the BorWin6 project to a consortium made up of McDermott and Global Energy Interconnection Research Institute and C-EPRI Electric Power Engineering (GEIRI / CEPRI).
Under the contract, McDermott is responsible for the converter stations while GEIRI/C-EPRI would focus on electrical engineering.
McDermott is also delivering engineering, procurement, construction, installation, and commissioning (EPCIC) services for an HVDC offshore converter platform located offshore Germany.
BorWin6 project is TenneT’s fifth project off the coast of Borkum that will use extra-high voltage direct current transmission technology after the BorWin1, BorWin2, BorWin3, and BorWin5 projects.
The offshore grid connection project is scheduled to be commissioned in 2027.
Apart from Dubai, McDermott will execute the fabrication at its other yard in Batam, Indonesia.
Recently, McDermott secured another EPCIC contract from TenneT for two 2GW HVDC grid connection systems offshore Germany.
