Iberdrola and 50Hertz agree on construction of Baltic Sea offshore substation

The jointly used offshore substation will house the technical equipment collecting the electricity produced by the wind turbines and will connect to the onshore transmission grid in Lubmin, 50Hertz said.

The substation is made up of a foundation and a topside housing the transformers as well as electrical equipment. The four-legged steel jacket foundation weighs approximately 2,900 tonnes and will be fastened with two hammered piles at each leg. The topside consists of a closed multi-storey module of 5 decks with a total estimated net weight of around 4,250 tonnes. 

Fabrication is already progressing at different locations in Europe and platform manufacturing has already started at Belgian yards. Sail out to the site is planned for 2022, while completion of the off-shore installation and commissioning is expected to take place in 2023.

Iberdrola has further awarded contracts to the joint venture Lemants-Fabricom, responsible for the manufacturing of all structural elements of the substation, and to marine contractor Heerema, who will transport and install the substation on the Baltic Eagle site. Siemens Gas and Power is responsible for the delivery of all main electrical equipment for Iberdrola`s low-voltage part of the OSS.

The substation is one of the key elements of the windfarm, tasked with collecting and exporting the entire electricity produced by 50 wind turbines - estimated to account for ca. 1.9 TWh per year. With this energy production it will be possible to sustainably meet the demand of 460,000 homes and to avoid the emission of 800,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere each year.

The Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm is located northeast of the Rügen island off the Mecklenburg-Western Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea in a water depth of 40-45 meters. Iberdrola was awarded 476 MW of capacity during the transitional auction held in 2018.