Heerema Fabrication Group has been awarded the procurement and construction contract of the Albatros offshore transformer module (OTM) by Siemens AG on behalf of EnBW Energy.
The 1000-tonne OTM will be part of the Albatros offshore wind farm project, which will be located in 40m of water 105km offshore the German coast in the North Sea, and approximately 100km from the East Frisian Coast near EnBW Energy’s planned Hohe See wind farm. The 39sq km wind farm will have 16 Siemens Gamesa wind turbines, each with a capacity of 7MW.
The OTM, with a transmission capacity of 116 MW, is one of the main components of the offshore grid connection. Siemens will deliver the electrical equipment, which will be placed at the topside. The electricity generated by Albatros and Hohe See could cover the electricity requirements of all private households in Munich - Germany's third largest city - and save around 1.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, Heerema said in a 27 July press statement.
Construction on the OTM is expected to begin in Q1 2018 at Heerema’s yard in Zwijndrecht, the Netherlands. Sailaway of the OTM is scheduled for 1Q 2019.