Belgian firm to help build German offshore wind connection platform

The Antwerp-based construction firm Smulders will take part in the construction of an offshore connection platform for German grid operator 50Hertz, a subsidiary of the Belgian high-voltage group Elia. The company announced the news on Wednesday.

The contract for the construction of a platform in the North Sea, designed to bring electricity generated by offshore wind turbines ashore, has been awarded to a consortium comprising German company Siemens Energy and Neptun Smulders Offshore Renewables (NSORe), a joint venture between German shipyard Neptun Werft and Belgian construction firm Smulders.

The consortium will build an offshore platform where alternating current generated by offshore wind turbines is converted into direct current. The electricity will then be transmitted to the mainland via subsea cables, where it will be converted back into alternating current at an onshore converter station, which is also part of the contract, before being fed into the grid.

Smulders, which employs more than 2,400 people and is part of the French construction group Eiffage, will be responsible for constructing the steel foundation for the offshore platform. The structure will be built at the company's shipyard in Vlissingen, the Netherlands.

The offshore power connection, known as North Sea Connector 2, will be capable of bringing up to 2 gigawatts of electricity ashore. The project is scheduled for completion by the end of 2034.

50Hertz is also continuing negotiations with NSORe on a second, similar platform. "The two projects together would represent around 2.5 billion euros for NSORe," according to 50Hertz.

^{#FlandersNewsService | © BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK}

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