Wind Energy – North Sea
In the Esbjerg Declaration in May at the North Sea Energy Summit, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Belgium agreed to jointly install at least 65 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030.
Transmission system operator (TSO) TenneT will account for almost two-thirds of this with 40 gigawatts – 20 gigawatts each in the German and Dutch North Seas. Achieving these offshore targets requires a new tender approach to ensure that the supply chain is able to anticipate on necessary investments.
TenneT COO Tim Meyerjürgens said: “In order to meet the challenges posed by this major expansion target and achieve its goals, we are breaking new ground in cooperation with our industry partners, sending a strong signal to the market with a large-scale tender. 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. 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 to enter into a cooperation agreement with key market partners for a period of up to eight years. The agreement covers offshore platforms and onshore stations, as well as the converters for the two-way conversion between alternating and direct currents.
The latter is based on the innovative 2-gigawatt high-voltage direct current technology for a forecast 15 to 20 offshore grid connection systems. Total order volume is estimated to be up to 30 billion euros.