Watch: 18,000-Tonne BorWin Gamma Platform Installed in North Sea

Photo: Ulrich Wirrwa / WiWiPhoto.de

The 18,000 tonne topside of the BorWin gamma High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) platform has been installed on its jacket foundation in the German sector of the North Sea, where will soon be used to supply green power to more than one million German households.

The giant converter arrived on board the heavy lift vessel Xiang He Kou which was used in the float-over installation of the platform at the installation site a little over 80 miles off the coast of Germany.

The heavy lift vessel Xiang He Kou arrived on site earlier this month after completing its voyage from Drydocks World’s Dubai Shipyard, where construction of the BorWin gamma has been underway since 2014.

A video showing the installation is below: 

Construction of the platform involved approximately 13.5 million man-hours and used 10,500 tonnes of steel, more than the weight of the Eiffel Tower. Inside the platform is nearly 550 miles of cable.

Scheduled to go online in 2019, the 900MW BorWin gamma platform houses an HVDC converter station that will convert alternating current produced by offshore wind farms to direct current before transmitting it onshore to the German grid.

TenneT ordered the HVDC link BorWin Gamma from a consortium comprising Petrofac and Siemens.

“I am delighted that the topside has been safely installed at its home in the North Sea. This is a major accomplishment and something that the various parties involved should be very proud of, specifically our client TenneT and consortium partner Siemens,” said PetroFac project manager, Roberto Cecchini. “The focus remains on safe and efficient delivery to complete the project in 2019.”