Dubai: Drydocks World announced yesterday that beginning of construction of DolWin beta, the world’s largest Wind Power HVDC Offshore Platform for Aibel AS, a company that works within the oil, gas and renewable energy sectors. A steel cutting ceremony was organised to mark the occasion. Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation and Chairman and CEO of Emirates airline and Group, was the guest of honour at the ceremony, attended by the prominent people from Government and Private sectors.
“This is one of the several pioneering projects that we have initiated especially to support the Wind Energy sector. We have aligned our business focus with industry developments and have been successful in gaining a foothold within the renewable energy field, which will remain one of the areas of our prime focus in the years to come,” said Khamis Juma Buamim, Chairman of Drydocks World and Maritime World.
DolWin beta will be built for a large wind farm cluster in the German sector of the North Sea. It will receive alternating current from wind farms, and convert it into direct current before sending it onshore via subsea cables. The dimension of the platform is 100.1 by 74.1 m. It will be 83 m tall with accommodation and outfits and weigh 20,000 metric tonnes approximately. The platform can generate 900 MW power and can receive electricity from three wind farms, i.e. a total of 240 turbines. This offshore wind connection will avoid more than three million tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year by replacing fossil-fuel based generation.
The EPC subcontract between Aibel AS and Drydocks World was signed on January 12, 2012. The platform will be ready for sailaway from Dubai Drydocks end 2013, and will, after assembly and testing inshore be towed out to the DolWin field from Aibel’s yard at Haugesund, Norway.
The German company TenneT has awarded the Contract to ABB to supply the Platform, which acts as a transmission link that will connect offshore wind farms located in the cluster DolWin in the North Sea to the German grid. The project is designed and managed by Aibel AS.
