Offshore staff
ARNHEM, the Netherlands — Transmission system operator TenneT expects to supply about 40 GW of the 65 GW of new offshore wind energy to be installed off the coasts of four countries in northern Europe by 2030.
Under the Esbjerg Declaration in May at the North Sea Energy Summit, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Belgium have agreed on the 65-MW target. TenneT will account for 20 GW in each of the German and Dutch sectors.
However, it warned that achieving these offshore targets will necessitate a new tender approach to ensure the supply chain can commit to the needed investments.
"The goal is to set out a new kind of framework agreement that allows for scaling through efficiently expanding these new offshore systems, both for technology companies and for other transmission system operators," TenneT COO Tim Meyerjürgens said. “This will stimulate the market to build up the resources and comprehensive supply chains we need in a targeted and—crucially—in faster way. In these turbulent times, this provides the industry with the investment security they need."
TenneT plans a cooperation agreement with various partners lasting up to eight years, covering offshore platforms and onshore stations and the converters for the two-way conversion between alternating and direct currents.
The latter would be based on 2-GW HVDC technology for an anticipated 15 to 20 offshore grid connection systems, with an estimated cost of up to EUR30 billion ($31.6 billion).
Currently, TenneT’s offshore connection capacity comprises about 7.2 GW in the German North Sea and close to 2.5 GW in the Dutch sector.
06.24.2022
