The construction of the 690MW platform for TenneT’s offshore grid connection project HelWin2 officially started today. The official steel cutting ceremony was performed by Mel Kroon, CEO of TenneT and Karl Heinz Springer, CEO of Siemens, at the yard of Heerema Fabrication Group in Zwijndrecht (the Netherlands), where the topsides of the platform will be built. The jacket and bridge will be constructed at the Vlissingen yard of HFG in the Netherlands.
The HelWin beta platform will be built for electricity grid operator TenneT by the Heerema Fabrication Group and is an EPCI contract (Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation) between Siemens and Heerema Fabrication Group. The platform has been developed jointly by Heerema Fabrication Group and Siemens, main contractor for the HelWin2 project.
The platform will connect a large wind farm cluster in the German sector of the North Sea. It will receive alternating current from wind farms, and convert it into direct current before transporting it onshore via subsea cables. The 98 by 42 meter steel structure of the platform topsides will be more than 27 meters tall and weighs over 10,000 metric tonnes. During 2013 an average of 450 people will be working on the Heerema Zwijndrecht and Vlissingen fabrication sites, excluding engineering and additional supply chain jobs.
The platform will be ready for sail away from the Heerema yard by mid 2014 for installation during the 3rd quarter of 2014.
HelWin2 project
The HelWin2 project establishes a 690 Megawatt grid connection for wind farms close to Heligoland. This TenneT project is the third connection in the eastern North Sea.
The first offshore wind farm that will be connected is Amrumbank West. The grid connection runs 45 kilometers across land from the converter station in Büttel to the coast, and from the landing point in Büsum a further 85 kilometers directly to the offshore converter station. The connection should be completed by spring 2015.
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Press release, October 19, 2012; Image: Heerema