Siemens wins order to connect Moray East to UK grid

Siemens has been awarded an order to connect the Moray East offshore wind farm to the grid. Moray East is being developed by a joint venture company owned by EDP Renewables, a subsidiary of the Portuguese utility Energias de Portugal, ENGIE, a global energy and services group based in Paris, and Diamond Generation Europe Ltd., a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation.

The Siemens' scope of supply covers all necessary components, such as the offshore transformer modules (OTM®) which transform the output of the wind turbines from 66 kilovolts (kV) to the transmission voltage of 220 kV, as well as the onshore station which transforms the electricity into 275 kV for feeding it into the national transmission grid. This project will be the 11th offshore wind farm to be connected to the mainland by Siemens in the UK. Moreover, Moray East marks the largest offshore grid connection in terms of transmission capacity and order entry Siemens has delivered or been awarded in the UK to date.

The windfarm, 22 kilometers (km) off the Aberdeenshire coast in Scotland, will have an installed generation capacity of 950 megawatts (MW) after its completion. For the grid connection, Moray East will incorporate Siemens OTM®. As a world's first, three OTM® are linked together to cover the rated capacity of 950 MW of the Moray East wind farm. As an OTM® is significantly smaller in size and weight compared to conventional alternating current platforms, there's no need for special vessels for transport and installation. Thus, this innovation will save time and money and highlights Siemens' commitment to helping power developers improve efficiencies and the delivery program.

Siemens will be responsible for the complete onshore substation including three SVC Plus as well as the three offshore substation platform topsides. In addition, it will also install a 30 km underground export cable to the onshore substation at New Deer in Aberdeenshire for the power generated. Work began on site in September 2018 to prepare the location which will house the onshore substation. It is anticipated Moray East will be operational by April 2021.