Norwegian energy services provider Aibel AS and a unit of Singaporean conglomerate Keppel Corporation have jointly won a contract to deliver two converter stations as part of the DolWin cluster servicing German offshore wind farms.
The grid operator TenneT Offshore has tasked Aibel and Keppel O&M, a unit of Keppel Corp, with the design, engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning of a 900-MW offshore High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) converter station along with an onshore converter station as part of the DolWin5 project.
Together with its subcontractor ABB (ASEA Brown Boveri), the consortium will also undertake the installation and start-up operations of the offshore and onshore converter stations on site at Germany.
Scheduled to be completed in 2024, the two converter stations will be part of the DolWin cluster servicing offshore wind farms in the German sector of the North Sea.
The offshore converter station will be located approximately 130km from the onshore converter station and they will provide grid connection for the offshore wind power plants to transmit and supply electricity to approximately a million households in Germany.
Chris Ong, CEO of Keppel O&M said, "This is Keppel O&M's first major project of this scale and extends our track record in supporting the renewable energy industry. We see opportunities in this segment as the offshore renewables market is expected to increase significantly over time with increasing concerns over climate change. Keppel O&M is able to leverage our expertise in offshore energy infrastructure to offer customised and high quality solutions across the offshore wind farm value chain.
"We are pleased to be selected by TenneT, a leading European transmission system operator, for this large-scale offshore wind project with our partner Aibel. Together with ABB, the consortium is able to provide a comprehensive and cost effective solution for TenneT. Keppel had previously completed a mobile application barge for an offshore substation in Germany as well as an offshore wind turbine installer," he added.