The world's first unattended high voltage direct current (HVDC) offshore converter station has been installed at the world's largest offshore wind farm, the 3.6GW Dogger Bank Offshore Wind Farm in the UK.
Dogger Bank offshore wind farm is divided into three sites A, B and C, each with A capacity of 1.2GW. The converter station is used to collect and send electricity from site A. It is 65 meters long, 36 meters wide and 39 meters high, and is installed on a conduit base with a water depth of about 28 meters.
The platform was designed by Hitachi and built and installed by Aibel.
According to Olly Cass, project director of Dogger Bank Wind Farm, the offshore platform is lean designed and is the first unattended HVDC platform. The platform will be controlled from shore, with no need for people to remain on the platform, which means there is no need to set up facilities such as living quarters, helicopter decks and sewage treatment systems, and the upper deck weight (per megawatt) is reduced by 70% compared to traditional converter platforms, saving hundreds of millions of pounds in cost.
In addition, Dogger Bank has installed Hitachi Energy's latest generation HVDC converter technology and will be the first offshore wind project in the UK to use this technology, ensuring that power is transmitted efficiently over long distances while minimising losses.
Aibel plans to deliver the offshore converter station platforms for Dogger Bank B in the second quarter of 2024 and C in the second quarter of 2025.
