TenneT inks contracts worth €30bn to develop North Sea energy infrastructure

Dutch-German TSO TenneT has signed the official contracts to seal what is being hailed as Europe’s largest-ever tender for clean energy infrastructure.

The contracts were signed with the Hitachi Energy/Petrofac cooperation and the three consortium partnerships, including GE/Sembcorp (SMOP), GE/McDermott and Siemens Energy/Dragados.

The total volume of the orders for the components totals around 30 billion euros ($33 billion) and will result in 14 offshore grid connection systems in the German and Dutch North Sea to be implemented by 2031.

The contracts form part of TenneT’s 2GW programme designed to harvest large amounts of offshore wind in the North Sea and bring it to land. The offshore grid connection systems in the German-Dutch North Sea will have a transmission capacity of 2GW and will use novel converter technology to convert three-phase current into direct current.

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TenneT had awarded eleven of these energy infrastructure systems at the end of March 2023, eight of them in the Netherlands and three in Germany. Three more German systems were added today.

Tim Meyerjürgens, COO of TenneT, said in a statement: “…the North Sea must be developed as Europe’s green power plant and quickly connected to the onshore power grid. We act and invest accordingly. Our 2GW programme will help make green North Sea wind energy scalable and more cost-effective – while further minimizing environmental impact.”

Contract details

The latest contract to be awarded was to the Siemens Energy/Dragados consortium, for the German projects BalWin3, LanWin4 (both with connection to the onshore grid in Wilhelmshaven) and Lan-Win2 (connection in the Heide area). The contract value for the consortium of Siemens Energy and Dragados Offshore is close to €7 billion ($8 billion).

Siemens Energy will manufacture the main electrical components, such as switchgears, transformers and converter technologies, at its factories in Europe. The Spanish consortium partner Dragados Offshore is responsible for the construction and offshore installation of the platforms.

“In the global race against climate change, grid expansion must be able to keep pace with the accelerated expansion targets for renewable energies. Shorter contracting processes, large-scale tenders and standardization of solutions show how grid operators and manufacturers are already pulling together to get green energy to consumers faster,” said Tim Holt, member of the Siemens Energy Executive Board.

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The contracts awarded in March include:

• GE/McDermott received the orders to implement the corresponding components for the German offshore projects BalWin4 and LanWin1, which are to be connected in Unterweser.
• Hitachi Energy/Petrofac has been awarded five Dutch projects to be connected in Borssele (IJmuiden Ver Alpha, Nederwiek 1), Eemshaven (Doordewind 1 and Doordewind 2) and Geertruidenberg or Moerdijk (Nederwiek 3). This cooperation will also implement the German connection LanWin5, which is to be connected in the Rastede area.
• GE/SMOP were awarded three Dutch projects to be connected in Maasvlakte, Rotterdam (IJmuiden Ver Beta, IJmuiden Ver Gamma and Nederwiek 2).

All agreements apply to both the offshore and onshore converter stations and the associated HVDC technology.

The commissioned suppliers will start with the preparatory work with immediate effect.