Offshore wind power substation for Borkum Riffgrund 3 marine wind farm finally here

Following the delayed rough construction of the Dolwin Epsilon substation in Singapore, its multi-day sea transport for final assembly at the Norwegian Haugsund shipyard, and a recent crossing of the North Sea, Dolwin Epsilon is now at its construction site. At the edge of the Ørsted wind farm, which comprises 83 Siemens-Gamesa SG 11.0-200 wind turbines, the final installation work on the Dolwin Epsilon substation platform, which was placed on the seabed using shear load foundation technology, is now underway.

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The conversion technology is unique: The wind turbines feed the 66 kilovolt (kV) electricity directly into the substation via their connecting cables. Dolwin Epsilon then converts this current to 320 kV direct current, allowing the electricity to be transported to land with less loss than with alternating current. This electricity is then transported via a 130-kilometer-long export cable to the Emden Ost converter station for onshore conversion.

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The 70-meter-high jacket support structure and the 36-meter-high transformer station mounted on it are part of the connection for the 915 MW wind farm in the North Sea, which Tennet calls Dolwin 5. The wind farm's connections are now being installed, as well as the connection of the platform to the 130-meter submarine cable to the shore. Borkum Riffgrund is expected to be fully operational by early 2026.

Ørsted had planned to commission the wind farm in 2025 and had completed its construction by January. It is now expected to begin full power generation operations in early 2026.