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RWE announces substation caretakers

By: Lewis Holdsworth 09/07/2015 RWE

General Substations Windfarms

RWE Innogy has commissioned the Dutch company Fabricom Offshore Services BV to maintain the inter-array substation of the Nordsee Ost offshore wind farm for the next five years.

The contract covers the inspection as well as the structural and mechanical maintenance of the auxiliary systems and the maintenance of the steel structure. The maintenance services are to be provided from RWE’s own Operation and maintenance base on Heligoland starting in August 2015.

“The transformer substation is the nerve centre of the wind farm which makes it an essential element for its safe and economically efficient operation. The stresses acting upon the components at sea are much higher than on land. Wind, waves and salt water require more maintenance work than what is usually needed”, explains Florian Würtz, Head of Operation Management Central Europe at RWE Innogy. “We are happy to have Fabricom as a competent partner with which we have already been collaborating successfully for the maintenance of the foundations since the summer of last year.”

It is planned to have the Dutch company carry out several weeks of maintenance work every year. This year’s maintenance will be carried out in good time before the winter starts to ensure the work can be done as smoothly as possible. This is because the weather windows during which maintenance is possible at all are getting smaller as the winter season starts. Past experience has shown, for instance, that statistically speaking the accessibility of the transformer station must be expected to be much lower (only 40 %) starting as early as October. In the summer months this level is usually 70 %. In the future, it is planned to carry out the maintenance in the summer months. All in all, about ten employees are deployed to each maintenance assignment.

The contract concluded yesterday covers the maintenance of the emergency power diesel systems, the fire-fighting system, the cranes, the bunkering system, the steel structure and other small auxiliary systems. The primary systems ensuring the power transmission are maintained mainly by RWE’s own staff.

Stanley Maas, Managing Director of Fabricom Offshore Services BV, adds: "We are grateful for the confidence RWE Innogy has given us by awarding this second long term service agreement for Nordsee Ost. This enables us to live up to our strategy of expanding our services towards the renewable industry.“

Inside the substation, the energy generated by the 48 wind turbines at a medium voltage of 33 kV is transformed to a transmission voltage of 155 kV. The electricity is then transmitted through two high-voltage submarine cables to the HelWin alpha converter platform of the system operator.

This is where the AC voltage is converted to 250 kV DC voltage and transported to the nearest onshore grid access point at Büttel. From here, the power generated at sea is transmitted to the consumers. With its installed capacity of 295 megawatts the Nordsee Ost nORDEoffshore wind farm can provide enough electricity to supply some 320,000 residential households with ecofriendly power per year. This is equivalent to about a third of all households in Hamburg.

You can visit the Nordsee Ost Substation in full on our site HERE

You can visit the Nordsee Ost offshore wind farm on full on our site HERE.

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RWE announces substation caretakers

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