The assembly of the topside for TenneT’s Hollandse Kust (west Alpha) offshore substation has been completed at the Equans BeLux yard in Hoboken, Belgium.
On 5 August, the 700 MW substation was already loaded onto the Sarens seagoing barge Louis at the yard. Soon, the substation will set sail towards its final destination, some 50 kilometers off the Dutch coast of Egmond aan Zee. The jacket foundation was already installed last year. Belgian marine contract DEME Offshore will install the topside.
In November 2020, Dutch grid operator awarded the joint venture of ENGIE Solutions – Iemants (subsidiary of Smulders) the contract for the Hollandse Kust (west Alpha). The scope of work included the engineering, procurement, construction, offshore installation, connection and testing of the offshore substation. The combination was prior also awarded the contract for the Hollandse Kust (noord) offshore substation.
The first steel cutting ceremony for the Hollandse Kust (west Alpha) topside took place in June 2021. The topside has 5 decks and weighs more than 4,000 tonnes. The substation is anticipated to be fully offshore commissioned in the third quarter of 2023.
The Hollandse Kust (west Alpha) is sixth large-scale grid connections for offshore wind energy in the Netherlands to be constructed and operated by TenneT. It will be connected to the onshore transformer station in Beverwijk. Image source: Smulders (screenshot from video)
