Germany's 50Hertz Transmission GmbH and Parkwind, the Arcadis Ost 1 Belgian offshore developer, have successfully reached the next level of collaboration.
The Transmission System Operator (TSO) for connecting the offshore wind farms in the German Baltic Sea said: "Already at a very early stage, close coordination between both parties continues as they signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that sets the framework for successful collaboration and coordination on technical and schedule topics for today and beyond."
The essential aspects of the MoU include specific agreements for the development, procurement, construction and operation of the shared offshore platform covering basic technical details and principles for the division of the construction costs.
The shared platform will connect the Arcadis Ost 1 offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea with the German transmission grid.
Additionally, the parties align on further aspects such as their respective programs and the future agreements to be entered into in the interest of the joint offshore platform. This single platform is explicitly foreseen as a part of the official grid development plan (Bundesfachplan Offshore) and is to be used by both the windfarm operator and the TSO.
Dr. Henrich Quick, head of offshore projects at 50Hertz, appreciates the added value of this concept: "On the one hand costs are reduced and on the other hand we need less space which helps us to even more reduce the environmental impacts during construction, operation and dismantling."
Ostwind 2 is the 50Hertz project to connect the Baltic Sea wind farms Arcadis Ost 1 and Baltic Eagle to the German high voltage grid. Arcadis Ost 1, the wind farm of the Belgian company Parkwind, is located in the cluster Westlich Arkonasee.
Baltic Eagle, the project of the Spanish utility company Iberdrola, is located in the cluster Arkonasee. Both areas are located between 20 and 30 kilometers northeast of the island of Rügen (German Baltic Sea). Together, the two wind farms are expected to generate an output of around 725 megawatts (MW).
50Hertz plans to build three submarine cable systems (OST-2-1, OST-2-2 and OST-2-3) with a voltage level of 220 kilovolts (kV) and a total capacity of 750 MW to deliver this output.
The necessary permits for the Ostwind 2 project have already been obtained for the onshore cable route, the coastal sea (12 nm zone) of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and an approximately five-kilometer section in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ). 50Hertz is currently obtaining the necessary permits for the remaining section of the cable route in the EEZ.
The connection to the German extra-high voltage grid takes place at the grid connection point in the Lubmin substation (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania). Here the electricity is transformed to 380 kV and fed into the 50Hertz transmission grid. The use of 220 kV three-phase alternating current technology is the most technically and economically efficient transmission method for connecting the Arkonasee and Westlich Arkonasee clusters.