Siemens Energy Management has secured a contract design, supply and construct the grid connection for the 860MW Triton Knoll offshore wind farm to be located 33km offshore in the English North Sea.
Image: Siemens to construct onshore substation and offshore infrastructure for Triton Knoll wind farm. Photo: Courtesy of Siemens plc.
Under the contract, Siemens will construct an onshore substation and install offshore transformer modules (OTMs) for the offshore wind farm. The four-hectare onshore substation will be located at Bicker Fen and the offshore infrastructure will include two OTMs.
As per the German engineering company, its OTM is significantly smaller in size and weight compared to regular alternating current platforms.
Siemens Energy Management managing director Carl Ennis said: “This is an important project to deliver clean, green energy to UK homes and businesses and we’re delighted to be a partner. We have a strong track record in delivering grid access projects and look forward to implementing our market-leading technology at Triton Knoll.”
Work has already started for the construction of a new bellmouth entry point and 3.8km access road to the new substation construction site. Construction of the onshore substation is expected to begin early next year and engineers at Siemens are said to be working closely with the Triton Knoll team.
The project will be completed from Siemens’ Manchester office. The company anticipates that several other supply chain contracts will be available in the UK, the details of which could be announced in the coming months.
Siemens claims that it has connected nearly 6.5GW of offshore wind power to the grid so far, with contracts for further of 4.5GW of projects in place. Triton Knoll will be its 10th offshore project for the company in the UK.
Innogy Triton Knoll project director Julian Garnsey said: “I’m really pleased to have such an experienced company on board. Siemens share our goal to use our investments to the benefit of UK businesses and suppliers, and their involvement represents a very real opportunity for competitive regional and UK companies to benefit from our project.
“This project will trigger a capital expenditure investment of around £2bn into much needed UK energy infrastructure.”
Last month, innogy and its partners including J-Power and Kansai Electric Power, reached financial close for the wind farm. innogy signed an agreement to sell 41% of its stake in the wind farm to J-Power (25%) and Kansai Electric Power (16%).