Start construction first 2GW direct current offshore platform

Wednesday, September 11 2024

Wind Energy – IJmuiden Ver

TenneT and marine engineering & construction company Seatrium have held a strike steel ceremony at Seatrium’s Tuas Boulevard Yard in Singapore.

The ceremony marked the start of construction of platform IJmuiden Ver Beta, one of the first Dutch 2GW grid connection projects.

The high voltage direct current (HVDC) offshore converter platform will connect the IJmuiden Ver Beta windfarm and will be installed in the Dutch North Sea in 2028.

In 2023, TenneT selected the GE Vernova Seatrium consortium to supply the offshore HVDC platforms for the 2GW Maasvlakte cluster.

GE Vernova is responsible for the advanced 2GW HVDC system and consortium partner Seatrium will engineer and manufacture the platform.

Under the framework agreement the GE Vernova Seatrium consortium has been awarded three Dutch projects (IJmuiden Ver Beta, IJmuiden Ver Gamma and Nederwiek 2) that will be connected to the high voltage grid at Maasvlakte (Rotterdam).

Jessie van der Linden, Associate Director Large Projects Offshore (2GW): “After years of preparation engineering and procurement in a challenging time, it is a great pleasure to see that the IJmuiden Ver Beta platform will now begin to take physical shape. It is a memorable and proud moment as it is also the very first 2GW platform of which at least 12 are to follow in the next years.”

Mr Samuel Wong, Executive Vice President, Seatrium Energy (Fixed Platforms), said: “After almost 18 months of engineering and procurement work, we are pleased to commence the first steel fabrication milestone for the construction of the first offshore HDVC platform for TenneT, working closely with our partner, GE Vernova. We have taken time to prepare meticulously for this project through detailed engineering work, which will enable us to achieve greater operational synergies for subsequent projects.”

“We are excited about the start of construction of the IJmuiden Ver Beta platform. This marks a major milestone in TenneT’s innovative 2GW Program. Together with our consortium partner Seatrium, we look forward to helping accelerate the expansion of the European offshore grid, which is critical to the continent’s climate neutral goals,” said Johan Bindele, Grid Systems Integration Business Line Leader at GE Vernova.

Once commissioned in 2029, the grid connection will deliver 2GW of electricity from the wind farm IJmuiden Ver Beta in the North Sea.The high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission system will connect the windfarm off the Dutch coast with the high voltage grid on land.