Substation sails out to Meerwind offshore wind farm

The consortium Alstom Grid and WeserWind GmbH have successfully handed over the substation for the Meerwind Süd and Meerwind Ost wind farms. The barge, carrying the 3,000 tonne platform and substation, sailed out on 2 April 2014 to the installation field near Helgoland, North Sea, Germany.

The turnkey substation solution forms part of the Meerwind Süd and Meerwind Ost wind farms, a project owned by Bremerhaven-based WindMW GmbH. The platform which houses the entire offshore substation was installed on 3 April by WindMW and is currently prepared for operation.

The Meerwind offshore wind farms will guarantee the efficient and ready access to wind energy in Germany. There are 80 wind turbines to feed a total power of 288 MW into the grid. The substation will connect the wind turbines to the electricity grid via the transmission grid operator. Once completed, these wind farms will energise 400,000 households, and save over one million tons of CO2 emissions per year compared to coal power plants. The water depth of the wind farms is between 22 and 26 metres.

“We are proud to contribute to Germany’s energy transition,” said Dr. Jochen Schwarz, member of the board at Alstom Deutschland AG. “Our leadership and technical expertise can be seen with our existing successes in offshore transformer stations – Borkum West II, Global Tech 1 and alpha ventus. Meerwind is no different.”

The project included the technical development, construction (including the offshore platform), design and supply of all electrical components by Alstom Grid. The specialist company WeserWind GmbH Offshore Construction Georgsmarienhütte designed and manufactured the platform’s steel structure including the helicopter landing deck and the platform’s jacket.

“The completion of Meerwind and other projects including Baltic 1, alpha ventus, Borkum West II and Global Tech 1 is a step towards a successful energy transition. WeserWind GmbH is proud to have contributed to such projects, and will continue to do so in the future,” said Ralph Ruthner, general manager from WeserWind GmbH.