Dragados and Siemens Energy win $3bn offshore grid connection contract

Spain’s Dragados Offshore in consortium with Germany’s Siemens Energy has won a deal to construct a new converter system for the LanWin3 offshore grid connection project in the German North Sea.

It was awarded by transmission system operator 50Hertz and the EPCI contract includes all engineering services, the procurement of the necessary components as well as the construction, transportation, and installation of the systems at sea and on land. The deal is worth around €2.9bn ($3.17bn).

The offshore platform will be built at Dragados Offshore yard in Cádiz, Spain, while the HVDC components for the converter will be manufactured at European production sites by Siemens Energy.

The LanWin3 offshore grid connection will connect a 2GW offshore wind farm in the North Sea to the mainland. It is located around 120 km northwest of Helgoland within the German EEZ. From there, a sea and land cable will run over 200 km to the grid connection point in the Heide area in North Friesland.

On the land side, the offshore grid connection systems LanWin3, operated by 50Hertz, and LanWin2, operated by TenneT, will be connected to the NordOstLink, a high-performance HVDC transmission line to be built from Mecklenburg to Western Pomerania.

The onshore counterpart to the offshore converter will be built near Schwerin to convert the direct current into alternating current. Both the offshore grid connections and the HVDC will have a voltage level of 525 kV to be able to transport large amounts of electricity with low losses.

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