OREANDA-NEWS. October 30, 2015. Alstom has completed the commissioning of the Alternate Current (AC) offshore substation for the German utility Energie Baden-W?rttemberg (EnBW) in the windpark EnBW Baltic 2, Germany’s second offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea. The wind farm hosts 80 wind turbines feeding up to 288 MW into the grid, providing power to 340,000 households while saving mathematically 900,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year. The offshore substation transmits the electrical energy from the wind turbines to the onshore connection point of the network in Bentwisch near Rostock via a 150 kV-submarine cable.

The turnkey contract managed by Alstom included the technical development, design and supply of the electrical components, platform construction, transport as well as the offshore installation of a high voltage offshore substation.

“The integration of renewable energies plays a key role in the successful implementation of the energy transition. With the installation of the offshore substation for EnBW Baltic 2, Alstom has made an important contribution to this transition in Germany thanks to its technical expertise and leadership in connecting offshore wind farms to the grid. The project opens up another direct access point for wind energy in Germany”, said Gerhard Seyrling, Vice President Alstom Grid, Region Central & Eastern Europe and Russia. 

Alstom’s GIS substations are installed within the Baltic 2 platform. With a combined weight of 4,400 tonnes, the platform was placed on a pre-installed jacket and brought out to the installation site in the Baltic Sea, with waters as deep as 44 metres. The buoyant and self-erecting platform design enabled a high degree of flexibility and independency from crane ships for the transport and installation of the offshore substation. The closed platform layout also protects the electrical components from oceanic climate.

Alstom received the first contract for the construction of an AC-offshore platform at the beginning of the millennium. In Germany, a total of nine offshore-substations featuring Alstom’s AC-technology have been installed and put into operation in the North or Baltic Sea, such as Meerwind, Borkum West II, Global Tech 1 and Alpha Ventus.