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Norther Offshore High Voltage Station is setting sail to Belgium’s largest offshore wind farm
Thursday, August 16, 2018 — Today the 22nd Offshore High Voltage Station (OHVS) built at the Hoboken yard of ENGIE Fabricom by the consortium partners ENGIE Fabricom, Smulders and CG, has set sail towards its destination to the Norther offshore wind farm. This offshore wind farm, a project by Elicio, Eneco & Diamong Generating Europe, is the largest of the Belgian coast and will provide power to close to 400,000 households. It’s being built 23 kilometres off the coast of Zeebruges. Anually the wind farm will produce 1.4 billion kWh renewable energy.
The OHVS is one of the key elements in the functioning of an offshore wind farm because it connects the individual windturbines. The power generated by the wind turbines (33 kV) is transported to this substation where it is converted to a voltage of 220 kV and then delivered to the shore through one cable. Onshore it will connect to the Belgian grid through Elia’s Stevin high-voltage station.
Norther has opted for a two-contract approach for construction, with two highly experienced contract parties, MHI Vestas Offshore Wind and Van Oord. Van Oord will design, engineer, supply and commission the WTG foundations and electrical infrastructure (OHVS and cabling) and will be responsible for the transport of the windturbines.
As Market leader in North west Europe for building offshore wind farms and main contractor of the Norther offshore windproject, Van Oord contracted the consortium partners ENGIE Fabricom, Smulders and CG.
ENGIE Fabricom was responsible for the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of the substation. The works also included the installation of low voltage equipment, the transport and installation. Smulders was responsible for the steel construction of the OHVS and its transition piece (TP) foundation. CG designed, fabricated, installated and commissioned the high and medium voltage systems including the control and security systems of the platform.
With its 32 metres length and 21 metres height, 1,300 tons and a transformer capacity of 410 MV, the Norther OHVS is the most compact substation ever built in Hoboken. The construction of offshore substations has become a true Belgian expertise: Norther is already the 22nd substation that was built at the Hoboken yard of ENGIE Fabricom. In Hoboken, we already built substations for wind farms in the UK, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.
