French technology group Areva has been contracted to carry out a grid connection study for the world’s largest offshore wind farm by German wind farm developer Sandbank 24.
At 360 MW – 400 MW, the Sandbank 24 pilot project, located in the North Sea off the German coast, is planned to be the world’s largest offshore wind farm and is due to start in 2006. The pilot phase will consist of 80 turbines of 4.5 MW – 5.0 MW each.
Under the terms of the contract, Areva T&D will carry out an extensive grid connection feasibility study and will consider three different proposals for the pilot phase with a view of implementing the proposed final 4.5 GW installation including high voltage AC, hybrid HVDC connection and Voltage Source Converter HVDC connection