Celebrating completion of the BorWin gamma platform topside fabrication

An event hosted by Drydocks World in Dubai has marked the achievement of a further milestone in the BorWin3 offshore grid connection project.

A ceremony celebrating the completed fabrication and construction of BorWin gamma High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) platform topside was attended by representatives of Petrofac along with our client TenneT, consortium partner Siemens and Drydocks World.

The topside fabrication commenced at Drydocks World, Dubai in 2014, and has taken over 13.5 million man-hours to construct, using 10,500 tonnes of steel — more than the Eiffel Tower, enough paint to cover 30 football fields, and 880 km of cable pulling inside the platform — which could cover the distance from Hamburg to Milan. The final stages of the project in Drydocks World saw the mega jacking and load-out of the topside, completing one of the heaviest and biggest jacking lifts undertaken in the Middle East.

BorWin gamma will transmit approximately 900 megawatt of electricity from connected offshore wind farms in the North Sea to mainland Germany, providing enough clean wind power to supply the annual electricity consumption of more than one million German households. The over 18,000 tonnes topside will soon set sail for the North Sea on a heavy lift vessel, and will be integrated with the jacket nearly 130 kilometres off the German coast, in a water depth of approximately 40 metres.

Commenting on the successful BorWin Gamma completion, George Salibi, Chief Operating Officer – Engineering & Construction at Petrofac said: “The safe and timely completion of the platform topside fabrication is a key milestone in this unique project. The collective efforts to build a top-class and reliable topside such as this cannot be underestimated and a key factor has been the collaborative approach of all the various parties involved, specifically our client TenneT, consortium partner Siemens and Drydocks World for the fabrication and construction of the topside.”

He added, “As we progress with the further critical stages of the project, the focus will remain on safe and efficient delivery to ensure the platform is installed successfully in the North Sea and goes online to the full satisfaction of TenneT.”

TenneT

Wilfried Breuer, Member Executive Board of TenneT said: ”During the entire project, all involved partners remembered the most important aspect: to find the best and optimal solution for BorWin3, we have to work together. For our project it meant to adapt the design or even the construction process to successfully finish the platform. Thanks to the good cooperation, an additional grid connection, BorWin3, will be put into operation next year. This connection will contribute to the energy transition in Germany.”

Siemens

Mirko Düsel, Chief Executive Officer of Siemens’ Transmission Solutions Business Unit said: “We have experienced incredible collaboration between the partners in this project. Today also marks a significant milestone for Siemens, as it is the fifth direct current platform we have implemented for TenneT in the North Sea.  We are looking forward to seeing our highly efficient technology at play as the platform goes online in 2019.”

Drydocks World

Captain Rado Antolovic, Chief Operating Officer at Drydocks World said: “The BorWin gamma project demonstrates our ability to construct complex projects according to the highest European quality standards, and shows the yard’s diverse capabilities, which extend beyond repair, conversion, oil & gas, to large-scale offshore renewable fabrication.”

He added, “Petrofac awarded Drydocks World the contract to build the platform in 2014 and we have worked closely to deploy our mutual expertise in delivering the project safely and effectively. We look forward to establishing new opportunities for growth and sustainability in the future; as the renewables sector is set to grow over the next decade, and are committed to contributing to sustainable energy development in Dubai and worldwide.”