Offshore platform sets sail for DolWin6 link in German North Sea

The 900-MW DolWin kappa offshore platform for the DolWin6 link in the German North Sea has left the Dragados Offshore shipyard in Cadiz, Spain, transmission system operator TenneT said on Monday.

After the sail-out on August 5, the platform is now being transported to the Dutch port of Rotterdam, where it will be reloaded onto service vessel Pioneering Spirit and shipped to the installation site.

The 900-MW, 90-kilometre (56-mile)-long high-voltage direct current (HVDC) grid connection, using 45-km land cable and 45-km subsea cable, will supply offshore wind power to more than 1 million households. It is due to be commissioned in 2023.

“DolWin6 is already the 13th offshore grid connection in our German portfolio and will bolster Europe’s urgently needed energy independence beginning in 2023,” said TenneT COO Tim Meyerjuergens

The platform is being delivered by contractors Siemens Energy AG (ETR:ENR) and Dragados Offshore. Consisting of a foundation structure and a superstructure, or topside, it set sail after three years under construction. DolWin kappa will be connected via a bridge with DolWin beta of the grid connection system DolWin2, which was completed in 2016, to efficiently use the existing infrastructure of the parent platform, TenneT explained.

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