A photo of HelWin Alpha and Beta Platforms in the North Sea

CIP Invests in Four German North Sea Grid Connections

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) has bought minority stakes in joint venture companies related to the operation of four grid connection systems in the German sector of the North Sea: BorWin1, BorWin2, HelWin2, and DolWin2.

HelWin Alpha and Beta Platforms for HelWin1 and HelWin2 grid connections; Photo source: TenneT (archive)

According to Watson Farley & Williams (WFW), a company that advised Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners on the purchase, the transaction was made via the acquisition by CIP’s CI Artemis II K/S fund.

The company did not disclose the transaction value.

WFW further added that the investment was subject to the same regulatory framework as the investment into the DolWin3 grid connection, for which CI Artemis K/S entered into a related joint venture with TenneT in 2014. WFW advised CIP on this transaction, too.

The four German offshore grid connections have a total transmission capacity of some 2.8GW.

The 400MW BorWin1, operational since 2010, was the first offshore grid connection with which TenneT connected an offshore wind farm to the grid using direct current technology. The grid connection is linked to the BARD Offshore 1 wind farm.

BorWin2 (800MW) has been put into operation in 2015 and, together with HelWin1 (576 MW), is the first large-scale offshore connection that enabled more than one offshore wind farm to be connected to the power grid. In 2015, BorWin2 accommodated Global Tech I and Veja Mate offshore wind farms. It is also the grid connection point for Albatros and Deutsche Bucht offshore wind farms. In 2019, Global Tech I was transferred to the BorWin3 grid connection.

HelWin2 is TenneT’s third connection in the eastern North Sea. The offshore grid connection has a capacity of 690MW and has been online since 2015. HelWin2 has been assigned to the Amrumbank West offshore wind farm. Its offshore converter platform HelWin beta is a subsidiary platform of HelWin alpha, the converter platform of the HelWin1grid connection.

The 916MW DolWin2 has linked three offshore wind farms to the German transmission networks in 2016. The offshore grid is linking Gode Wind 1, Gode Wind 2 and Nordsee One offshore wind farms to the German power transmission system.