50Hertz connects offshore wind farms Arkona and Wikinger to its transmission grid on schedule
The offshore substation Arkona in the middle of the wind farm. Photo: Siegfried Wagner/50Hertz
Berlin/Sassnitz – The transmission system operator 50Hertz has connected the offshore wind farms Wikinger (operator: Iberdrola) and Arkona (operators: E.ON and Equinor) off the island of Rügen to its transmission grid just in time for their commissioning and below the originally calculated budget, for the benefit of the grid customers. After three years of construction and a total investment volume of approximately 1.3 billion euros, renewable energy is now flowing to the Lubmin substation during trial operation. From here it is supplied to the consumers via three 90 kilometres long submarine cables.
“We congratulate E.ON and Equinor for the successful commissioning of their first wind farm in the German Baltic Sea and are proud of our cooperation as partners in the construction of the joint Arkona offshore substation”, emphasised 50Hertz CEO Dr Frank Golletz at today’s official inauguration in Sassnitz, adding: “This offshore platform has set a new standard. We will also continue the good European relationship during the operation of the wind farm. We would especially like to thank the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) and the State of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, who always act as reliable supporters for the offshore projects and their connection. We are also counting on this well-established cooperation for future projects”, concluded Golletz.
Wind farms are connected by using 220 kilovolt three phase current technology
The connection of offshore wind farms Wikinger and Arkona, currently the largest investment project of 50Hertz, started in 2015 and is made at the Lubmin substation. For the first time in the Baltic Sea, a grid connection was implemented as a 220 kV three phase current system, enabling a higher power transfer. Until now, the connections of offshore wind farms in the German Baltic Sea consisted of 150 kV three-phase cable systems. At the Lubmin substation, the current is transformed to 380 kilovolts and fed into the 50Hertz transmission system.
New projects in the Baltic Sea confirm its high attractiveness
Dr Henrich Quick, Head of Offshore Projects at 50Hertz, emphasised that the Baltic Sea is an attractive location for the wind power industry because of its high wind yield, which need not fear comparison with the North Sea. This is also demonstrated by the fact that Iberdrola is already in the starting blocks for two new Baltic Sea projects (Baltic Eagle and Wikinger Süd). A new foreign investor in the Baltic Sea is Belgian company Parkwind, with the Arcadis Ost 1 project. The three wind farms with a total capacity of 730 megawatts shall be connected to the 50Hertz grid by three cable systems. Dr Quick said that the grid connection of the wind farm called Ostwind 2 will run mostly in parallel with the route of Ostwind 1.
About the Ostwind 1 50Hertz grid connection
The Ostwind 1 grid connection consists of the grid connections for offshore wind farms Arkona and Wikinger. The Ostwind 1 project's three cables each cover 90 kilometres at sea and three kilometres on land, ending at the 50Hertz substation of Lubmin. The responsible permitting authority for the construction and the operation of the grid connections along the onshore route and the offshore route in coastal waters (12 nautical mile zone) is the Ministry of Energy of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) is the responsible permitting authority for the offshore route within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). More information about the project
Press release as pdf file