Siemens hands over HelWin1
Published: 10 February, 2015
Siemens has now handed over HelWin1, the second North Sea grid connection in quick succession, to its client TenneT.
The German-Dutch transmission system operator has now also put this grid connection into commercial operation. The offshore platform of the HelWin1 grid connection is located around 85km off the German coast – northwest of the island of Helgoland, after which the project was named. Up to 576 megawatts (MW) of clean electricity can now be transmitted with this grid connection – enough to supply more than 700,000 German households. The Nordsee Ost and Meerwind Süd/Ost wind farms are linked to HelWin1. At present, wind turbines with a total capacity of around 260 MW are linked to the grid connection, with new turbines being connected almost on a daily basis. The Meerwind Süd/Ost wind farm is made up of 80 Siemens 3.6 megawatt wind turbines.
Jan Mrosik, CEO of the Siemens Energy Management Division. Commented: "This year we have completed the world's first two large-category offshore grid connections equipped with efficient direct-current technology. We also intend to put the next two projects into commercial operation as planned within a few months."
Lex Hartman, member of the Board at TenneT TSO GmbH added: "With the completion of HelWin1, TenneT now provides around 2000 MW of transmission capacity in the German North Sea."
The next two grid connections, Sylwin1 and HelWin2, are scheduled for commercial operation in the first half of 2015.
