ABB has commissioned and handed over the DolWin1 offshore wind grid connection to the Dutch-German transmission system operator TenneT.
The 800 megawatts (MW) High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) link connects offshore wind farms around 75 kilometers off the German coast in the DolWin cluster, with the country’s transmission grid. The DolWin1 grid connection can integrate 800 MW of offshore wind power, enough to supply around one million households with clean energy.
The DolWin1 grid connection is part of Germany’s energy transition roadmap, called “Energiewende”, which foresees the generation of more than 6.5 gigawatts (GW) from offshore wind by 2020 and 15 GW by 2030.
ABB deployed its Voltage Source Converter (VSC) technology, called HVDC Light®, for the project and was responsible for the design, engineering supply and installation of the offshore and onshore converter stations, as well as the submarine and underground cable systems.
“We are proud to hand over the DolWin1 offshore wind grid connection to TenneT and to make a significant contribution to Germany’s target of increasing its share of renewables in the energy mix,” said Claudio Facchin, President, ABB Power Systems division.
The wind farm Borkum West II and the wind farm Borkum Riffgrund I are connected via submarine cables to DolWin alpha, the offshore converter station. Here the alternating current from the wind farms is converted into direct current before being transmitted at a voltage of +/- 320 kilovolts (kV) via 165 kilometers of extruded DC submarine and underground cables to the grid connection point at the Dörpen West substation in Heede, northern Germany.