On 5 November 2024, the start of construction of the converter station for the IJmuiden Ver Alpha offshore grid connection marked the official launch of Dutch TSO TenneT’new 2 GW standard.
The official starting signal was given in Borssele by TenneT, together with contractors, the Ministry of Climate and Green Growth, the province and municipalities in the province of Zeeland. The station is expected to be completed in 2028. The yet-to-be-built wind turbines are expected to be able to supply the first power to the high-voltage grid from 2029.
New generation of connections
The 2GW offshore grid connection standard was developed by TenneT, together with market parties, to accelarate the development of offshore wind and further reduce the costs of offshore wind. TenneT will connect eight grid connections in the Netherlands and six in Germany over the next few years according to this new 2 GW standard.
Manon van Beek, CEO TenneT: ‘The starting signal we are giving today marks the new generation of connections for offshore wind farms. These new connections will soon allow almost three times as much electricity to be transmitted to land, using fewer cables and platforms than the current connections. We are proud to celebrate this moment together and look forward to a prosperous construction and delivery of this new offshore grid connection.
Work on the offshore transformer platform for IJmuiden Ver Alpha started earlier this year in Singapore. TenneT last year selected Petrofac and Hitachi Energy to supply several offshore platforms and onshore converter stations, of which IJmuiden Ver Alpha is the first project. Petrofac has given Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Holdings Berhad the subcontract for the platform. Test production of the new direct current cable for the project has also begun. Source: TenneT
