ABB wins $1 billion German offshore connection

GERMANY: The biggest power transmission order in power group ABB's history will supply a link connecting a number of German offshore wind farms to the country's national grid.

by Paul Garrett 3 August 2011

The deal with grid operator TenneT, worth $1 billion, will deploy an HVDC system with a rating of more than 900MW. ABB will design, engineer, supply and install the offshore platform, converter stations and the land and sea cable systems.

Electricity from the 400MW Gode Wind II and other wind farms will be transmitted to an onshore HVDC station at Dorpen, just inland from the north German coast near the Dutch border.

ABB’s Head of Power Systems Peter Leupp said the deal had come about because of the company’s "in-house manufacturing capability of converter stations, cables and semiconductors – the essential components of HVDC systems".

The offshore network, in the southern North Sea, is scheduled to be operational in 2015. It will be the third offshore-wind connection order for ABB in Germany, following the 800MW Dolwin 1 link awarded last year and the previous BorWin 1 project.