Petrofac, GE join up on wind farm

Petrofac and GE have been awarded a contract worth over £110 million to engineer, construct and install a turnkey power system to efficiently connect up to 336 MW of clean energy from the Galloper offshore wind farm, off Suffolk, UK, to the British grid.  

The contract was awarded by Galloper Wind Farm with the goal of helping meet the UK’s ambitious goal of generating 15% of the country’s electricity from renewable sources by 2020.  

Petrofac will provide topside and jacket foundation designs, fabrication, transport and installation of the offshore substation and offshore logistics to support hook up and commissioning while GE will provide overall electrical system design in addition to: 

• Onshore and offshore substation equipment and all related power transformers and gas insulated switchgear at 132kV and 33kV. 
• Two Static Var Compensators, each connected to the grid by its own power transformer, which will provide dynamic voltage support to ensure grid code compliance, a stabilized power supply and strengthened transmission grid to ensure efficient connection of the new wind farm to the British transmission system 
• Protection and control for the safe operation of the wind farm including the telecommunications needed between the onshore and offshore substations and the wider network
• All ancillary and supporting electrical equipment such as auxiliary and earthing transformers, battery systems, back-up generators and low voltage systems.