4C Offshore Empowering Intelligence

TenneT invites tenders for 2 GW grid projects

4C Offshore | Tom Russell
By: Tom Russell 23/02/2022 TenneT
TenneT will be constructing three offshore grid connections (BalWin1, BalWin2 and BalWin3) in the North Sea off Lower Saxony, each with a transmission capacity of 2 GW.  The company is now launching the tendering procedures for the offshore and onshore stations for these grid connection systems.

The call for tenders encompasses the newly developed offshore platforms, the land stations, and the associated equipment for the new 2 GW high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission technology.


The contracts for all three projects have a combined order volume in the seven-digit range and are expected to be awarded in the third quarter of 2023. Effective immediately, bidders can qualify for the tender process.

The first three German 2 GW projects will be part of TenneT’s 2 GW Programme. It claims the new offshore standard will offer more than twice the transmission capacity of the 900 MW systems that have been common in Germany to date. Since this will allow the same amount of electricity to be transmitted with only half as many grid connections.


TenneT also claims that harmonising the systems in terms of technology and planning will also make it possible to put additional grid connections systems in place even faster than before. In this way, the 2 GW Programme will make wind energy from the North Sea scalable and the supply of green electricity more cost-efficient according to the transmission system operator.

“The 2 GW Program will be a key pillar of our offshore strategy while helping to advance the energy transition in Europe more quickly and efficiently,”
said Tim Meyerjürgens, Chief Operating Officer of TenneT. “After a successful launch in the Netherlands and with the call for tenders for the converter stations of our BalWin projects, we are now also putting grid expansion in the German North Sea on course for climate neutrality.”

As part of the 2 GW Programme, at least six offshore grid connection systems – each with a transmission capacity of 2 GW of wind energy from the North Sea – are to be built in Germany and the Netherlands by 2030, with three of them being in the German BalWin cluster off the coast of Lower Saxony. With a total capacity of 6 GW, BalWin1 (completion 2029), BalWin2 (2030) and BalWin3 (2030) will contribute 20 per cent to the raised offshore expansion target of Germany’s new federal government by 2030. The three projects are expected to transfer enough power for approximately 7.5 million households.


TenneT is planning at least three more projects off the coast of the Netherlands with a combined total of 6 GW.


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