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TenneT's Borssele Beta platform ready for action

By: Tom Russell 30/07/2020 TenneT

Cables General Substations Windfarms

Borssele Beta, TenneT’s high voltage connection for the Borssele 3&4 and Borssele 5 offshore wind farms, is ready for use. Blauwwind (Borssele 3&4) and Two Towers (Borssele 5) can connect the wind turbines to the high voltage grid one month earlier than planned. TenneT has realised the entire Borssele project within schedule and budget.

TenneT received the ‘Grid Readiness’ certification from DNV GL for Borssele Beta. This means that this offshore grid connection complies fully with the conditions set out in the Offshore Wind Energy Development Framework.

Marco Kuijpers, TenneT' s Director offshore activities, said: “We are proud of the fact that the second part of the Borssele high voltage connection is already complete and was realised within budget. Despite all the Covid-19 challenges, we were successful in continuing with the works; a huge achievement from all the contract parties involved.”

The wind farms will have a total capacity of 700 MW, which is equivalent to the electricity consumption of around 1 million households. The electricity generated by the wind turbines is collected at sea at a transformer platform. The voltage is converted from 66 kV into 220 kV. The electricity is then transported to land via cables in the seabed and is landed at an electrical substation at Borssele. At this station, it is converted into 380 kV. Finally, the electricity is transported to the high voltage grid.

TenneT is investing in upgrading the 150 kV grid in Zeeland and the 380 kV connection between the Borssele and Rilland high voltage substations to secure the transport of higher volumes of sustainable energy in the future.

By the end of 2023 TenneT will have constructed 3,500 MW offshore grid connections for offshore wind farms. The first 1,400 MW has been realised with the delivery of Borssele Alpha and Borssele Beta. This will be followed by Hollandse Kust Zuid Alpha and Beta, followed by Hollandse Kust Noord. TenneT is using five identical 700 MW transformer platforms for these wind farms. These platforms are located close to the wind farms and all five use the same type of 220 kV cable connection to the coast.

According to the Follow-up Roadmap for Offshore Wind Energy, a further 6.1 GW (6,100 MW) of offshore wind farms will be built from 2024 through to the end of 2030. These wind farms will be located in the wind energy areas known as Hollandse Kust West, Ten Noorden van de Waddeneilanden and IJmuiden Ver. For the first two, TenneT will again be using three standardised 700 MW platforms (2.1 GW). The efficient connection of wind energy areas further out into the North Sea, such as IJmuiden Far (4 GW), will partly require other technologies that use direct current instead of alternating current. IJmuiden Ver will have two offshore converter stations, each with a capacity of 2 GW, which is unique in the offshore wind industry.

In the German part of the North Sea, TenneT's 7.1 GW current connection capacity already exceeds the German government's target for 2020. This target has been set at around 6.5 GWfor the North Sea and the Baltic Sea together. Until 2030, TenneT's offshore grid connection capacity in Germany will increase to around 17 GW.

For more information on offshore wind farms worldwide, click here.

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TenneT's Borssele Beta platform ready for action

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