Neptun Smulders Offshore Renewables will build a second 2 GW converter platform for 50Hertz to connect North Sea wind generation to the German power grid.
The Neptun Smulders Offshore Renewables (NSORe) joint venture, formed by Neptun Werft and Smulders, has been selected by German transmission system operator 50Hertz to build the offshore converter platform for the LanWin3 project, a 2 GW connection designed to transport electricity generated by a future North Sea wind farm to the German power system.
The contract expands NSORe’s involvement in the country’s offshore power infrastructure expansion.
The new order comes just months after the consortium formed by NSORe and Siemens Energy was selected for LanWin6, also with a 2 GW converter platform. Neptun Werft estimates that the value attributable to NSORe for both platforms reaches approximately 2.5 billion euros.
Siemens Energy will supply the main high-voltage components for LanWin3, while NSORe will undertake the system design, procurement, construction, installation, and commissioning.
Two Shipyards Integrate an HVDC Platform
Manufacturing will distribute work between Germany and the Netherlands. The topside, which incorporates the platform’s main equipment, will be built at NSORe’s facilities at the Neptun Werft shipyard in Rostock-Warnemünde. Smulders will manufacture the jacket-type steel structure, which will provide support for the installation on the seabed, in Vlissingen.
LanWin3 will use high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission technology at 525 kV. 50Hertz specifies a capacity of 2,000 MW for the connection. The wind farm is located approximately 120 kilometers northwest of Helgoland, within the German exclusive economic zone, and the electricity will travel via a submarine cable of about 200 kilometers to Büsum.
From there, an underground section of approximately 15 kilometers will carry the connection towards the Heide area.
The architecture does not end at the coast. In Heide, LanWin3 will be linked to the NordOstLink system, another 525 kV, 2 GW HVDC infrastructure that will allow electricity to be transported from the North Sea coast to eastern Germany.
50Hertz indicates that NordOstLink is specifically designed to carry large volumes of renewable electricity from the north to regions with higher consumption.
Neptun Smulders: The Converter is the Connecting Point
The converter platform is the technological point that allows the integration of two electrical systems with different characteristics: offshore alternating current generation and long-distance direct current transmission.
In LanWin3, electricity from the wind farm arrives at the offshore platform and is converted there for transmission via 525 kV HVDC. The use of direct current allows large amounts of power to be transported over long distances with fewer losses than a conventional alternating current alternative, and also facilitates directed control of electrical flows.
50Hertz has established the 525 kV and 2 GW standard for this new generation of offshore connections.
The concept gains greater importance when LanWin3 is viewed as part of a system and not as an isolated installation. The offshore connection carries energy to Heide, and NordOstLink can subsequently redistribute it to other regions.
The converter platform ceases to be merely a connection infrastructure and becomes part of a long-distance electrical transport architecture.
Germany Industrializes Its New Power Grid
The contract with Neptun Smulders also demonstrates how offshore wind expansion is generating a specific industrial chain around transmission. Siemens Energy provides transformers, switching systems, and conversion technology, while NSORe integrates engineering, construction, and installation of the platform.
In parallel, specialized manufacturers supply the submarine and terrestrial cables necessary to complete the connections.
The background is important. In 2024, 50Hertz had awarded Siemens Energy and Dragados Offshore the LanWin3 converter system under a 2 GW and 525 kV configuration, with a contract close to 2.9 billion euros. Subsequently, the scope of platform construction was modified and transferred to NSORe.
SOURCE and PHOTO: https://www.offshorewind.biz/
