Energy company RWE announced yesterday that the HVDC Offshore Converter Platform (OCP) for their 1.4 GW Sofia Offshore Wind Farm was successfully installed. The installation was performed by Heerema Marine Contractors’ semi-submersible crane vessel (SSCV) Sleipnir.
Heerema won the T&I contract for the Sofia offshore platform back in 2021, as a subcontractor to the GE Vernova/Seatrium consortium responsible for the OCP. The platform, equivalent in height to an 11-story building and weighing over 13,000 tonnes, was lifted onto the jacket structure, marking the largest lift in offshore wind history.
The massive OCP structure, constructed over two and a half years and requiring more than 13 million hours of work, was loaded out from Batam Yard in Indonesia and transported to the North Sea. The jacket structure, a welded tubular space frame, was first placed to support the topside facilities, which include supports for conductors, risers, and the topside itself. The topside, now securely in place, will play a crucial role in converting the electricity generated by the wind turbines and transmitting it to the onshore connection substation.
It is understood to be the largest offshore wind converter platform of its type in the world, and its installation is a testament to the successful collaboration between RWE and its partners, GE Vernova and Seatrium. The use of HVDC technology enables high efficiency transmission of the wind farms electrical output, minimising power losses along the 220km cable route to shore.
The successful installation marks a key milestone for keeping the Sofia Offshore Wind Farm on track for full operation in 2026.Once operational, the Sofia Offshore Wind Farm, located on Dogger Bank, 195 kilometres off the northeast coast of the UK, will transmit low-carbon electricity generated from 100 Siemens Gamesa 14 megawatt (MW) wind turbines. The energy will be carried through subsea export cables to landfall in Redcar, Teesside, 220 kilometres away. Source:/Image RWE
