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.
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, the company explained.
“ 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. “We pioneered HVDC technology and have remained at the forefront of its innovation. We are pleased to see it being leveraged to bring clean energy to millions of people reliably and efficiently.”
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.
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