Drydocks World-Dubai completes BorWin gamma Platform Topside Fabrication expected to power more than one million households
Drydocks World the service provider to shipping, offshore, oil and gas sectors has completed construction of the topside for a High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) platform named BorWin gamma, the company said in its press release.
BorWin gamma will transmit approximately 900 megawatt of electricity from connected offshore wind farms in the North Sea to mainland Germany, providing enough clean wind power to supply the annual electricity consumption of more than one million German households. The over 18,000 tonnes topside will set sail for the North Sea on a heavy lift vessel, and will be integrated with the jacket nearly 130 kilometres off the German coast, in a water depth of approximately 40 metres.
Scheduled to go online in 2019, TenneT ordered the HVDC link BorWin Gamma from a consortium comprising Petrofac and Siemens. Siemens supplied the complete HVDC converter technology and main electrical equipment for efficient direct-current transmission, with Petrofac responsible for the complete engineering, construction and offshore installation of the platform. Petrofac awarded the contract to Drydocks World for fabrication, commissioning and load-out of the topside.
The topside fabrication commenced at Drydocks World, Dubai in 2014, and has taken over 13.5 million man-hours to construct, using 10,500 tonnes of steel — more than the Eiffel Tower, enough paint to cover 30 football fields, and 880 km of cable pulling inside the platform — which could cover the distance from Hamburg to Milan. In the final stages of the project, Drydocks World carried out a mega jacking and load-out of the BorWin Gamma topside, completing one of the heaviest and biggest jacking lifts done in the Middle East.
Expected for mid of September 2018 the BorWin Gamma topside will be shipped via the Suez Canal into the North Sea and will be installed on the jacket in place, erected in May.
Commenting on the successful BorWin Gamma completion, Captain Rado Antolovic, Chief Operating Officer at Drydocks World said, “Drydocks World has been involved in other projects for the German North Sea, having previously built the world’s largest capacity HVDC platform DolWin beta, and we are pleased to have the opportunity again to work on this innovative renewable technology. The BorWin gamma project demonstrates our ability to construct complex projects according to the highest European quality standards, and shows the yard’s diverse capabilities, which extend beyond repair, conversion, oil & gas, to large-scale offshore renewable fabrication.
He added, “Petrofac awarded Drydocks World the contract to build the platform in 2014 and we have worked closely to deploy our mutual expertise in delivering the project safely and effectively. We look forward to establishing new opportunities for growth and sustainability in the future; as the renewables sector is set to grow over the next decade, and are committed to contributing to sustainable energy development in Dubai and worldwide.”
George Salibi, Chief Operating Officer – Engineering & Construction at Petrofac said, “The safe and timely completion of the platform topside fabrication is a key milestone in this unique project. The collective efforts to build a top-class and reliable topside such as this cannot be underestimated and a key factor has been the collaborative approach of all the various parties involved, specifically our client TenneT, consortium partner Siemens and Drydocks World for the fabrication and construction of the topside. As we progress with the further critical stages of the project, the focus will remain on safe and efficient delivery to ensure the platform is installed successfully in the North Sea and goes online to the full satisfaction of TenneT.”
“We have experienced incredible collaboration between the partners in this project. Today also marks a significant milestone for Siemens, as it is the fifth direct current platform we have implemented for TenneT in the North Sea. We are looking forward to seeing our highly efficient technology at play as the platform goes online in 2019,” said Mirko Düsel, Chief Executive Officer of Siemens’ Transmission Solutions Business Unit.
Wilfried Breuer, Member Executive Board of TenneT said, ”During the entire project, all involved partners remembered the most important aspect: to find the best and optimal solution for BorWin3, we have to work together. For our project it meant to adapt the design or even the construction process to successfully finish the platform. Thanks to the good cooperation, an additional grid connection, BorWin3, will be put into operation next year. This connection will contribute to the energy transition in Germany.”