Today, Nordic Yards, manufacturer of technologically sophisticated and innovative special ships and maritime structures, brought BorWin beta to dock.
It is the first self-erecting offshore transformer platform to be built in Germany. The power converter, which will contain accommodation units in addition to the technical equipment for transforming and transmitting the energy generated by the wind turbines, is due to start test operations at the end of 2012.
Over the course of the project, some 500 Nordic Yards employees will have worked on the fabrication. Up to 150 Siemens Energy staff are also engaged at the Warnemünde yard during the assembly and trials.
Construction of the platform is taking place at Wismar and Warnemünde. The topside is fabricated at Warnemünde. This part of the platform stands above the water and carries the transformers and rectifiers, among other things. Nordic Yards is building the supporting structure beneath it, known as the base frame, in separate sections at the two yards. The individual assemblies are prefabricated in Warnemünde and then transported to Wismar by pontoon for final installation.
“The platform is now taking on a very recognisable shape and we are fully satisfied with the quality of the work. We value Nordic Yards as a reliable, flexible and competent partner,” says Wilfried Breuer, CEO Power Transmission Solutions Division in Siemens Energy Sector.
”Today’s launch represents a significant milestone in the construction of the platform. The design and fabrication of offshore platforms will form an important aspect of our corporate strategy in the coming years,” says Vitaly Yusufov, owner and Managing Director of Nordic Yards.
Siemens Energy Sector placed the order for the construction of the offshore platform with Nordic Yards in July 2010 as part of the BorWin2 project for the Dutch grid operator, TenneT. The finished transformer platform will transfer the energy generated by the Veja Mate and Global Tech I wind farms to the mainland. The platform will be anchored about 125 kilometres off the German coast. The equipment on board the BorWin beta will be capable of continuously feeding 800 megawatts of renewable energy into the German power grid, enough to cover the electricity needs of a city the size of Frankfurt am Main.
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Source: NordicYards, September 15, 2011.