Siemens

Norwegian energy firms Statoil and Statkraft are developing the £1.5bn wind farm, which is situated 32km off the North Norfolk coast in water depths of 18m to 25m.

The contract requires Siemens to deliver the entire power transmission system, including one onshore and one offshore transformer substations.

Siemens said the offshore substation converts the wind energy to 132kV while the onshore station turns the electricity into 400kV for feeding into the transmission grid.

The grid connection order follows the £500m contract Siemens secured recently to deliver, install and commission 67 of its 6MW wind turbines for the project.

Grid connection is expected to be completed by the end of 2016, and Siemens will commence turbine installation in early 2017.

The wind farm, which is expected to be commissioned by the end of 2017, will generate enough electricity for about 410,000 homes in the UK.

Commenting on the latest contract, Siemens power transmission division CEO of the transmission solutions business unit Tim Dawidowsky said: "This order marks a milestone for us. Dudgeon will be our tenth grid connection project using AC technology.

"To date, we have installed nine connections using AC technology with a total transmission capacity of more than three gigawatts, transporting enough electricity to supply three million households with wind power."

Image: Siemens will deliver 67 6MW turbines for the Dudgeon offshore wind farm. Photo: Courtesy of Siemens.