August 28 - Germany's SeaRenergy Offshore has successfully installed the first DC converter platform HelWin1 in the North Sea, on behalf of Siemens.
Early this summer the subsea structure of HelWin 1 was installed in a water depth of 23 m approximately 85 km offshore, northwest of the island of Helgoland.
The 12,000 tonne topside measures 75 m x 27 mx 50 m and is the largest platform ever installed in the North Sea, says SeaRenergy. Earlier this month, HelWin 1 was towed from is manufacturing site in Wismar, northern Germany to the offshore location over the course of seven days; a further four days were required to position the platform. On August 23, four tugboats aligned the HelWin 1 above its subsea foundations before it was lifted hydraulically to its final position 22 m above sea level.
SeaRenergy Offshore was responsible for the planning, transportation and installation of the giant platform. This included project management, offshore operations, marine coordination, as well as onshore and offshore logistics.
"The successful installation of HelWin1 shows that SeaRenergy offers the right solutions to the challenges of the offshore wind market", say co?founders and managing directors of SeaRenergy Offshore Holding, Jan B. Steffens and Kurt E. Thomsen.
HelWin 1 will be connected to the wind farms Nordsee Ost and Meerwind. Together the farms have a capacity of 576 MW - capable of providing electricity to over 500,000 homes. The platform converts the alternating current power generated by the wind farms to direct current, ensuring only very minimal transmission loss during transportation to the shore.
HLPFI reported in January 2013 that Siemens selected SeaRenergy Offshore for the transportation and installation of two HVDC converter platforms for offshore wind farms in the North Sea (http://tinyurl.com/o5aln6f).
www.searenergy.de
www.energy.siemens.com
