Iberdrola, 50 Hertz and Navantia have recently held a delivery celebration for the substation christened as ‘Andalucía’, which was built by Navantia at the Puerto Real shipyard for Wikinger, Iberdrola''s offshore wind farm in Germany, with an overall budget of €1.4 billion.
Figures in attendance at the event included European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, Miguel Arias Cañete; Iberdrola Chairman, Ignacio Galán; and Navantia Chairman, José Manuel Revuelta. The President of the Regional Government of Andalusia, Susana Díaz, was the guest of honour, and christened this major piece of offshore infrastructure.
The event at the Navantia premises in Cadiz showcased the successful delivery of the project, with all the agreed deadlines successfully achieved. The entire structure -substation, jackets, offshore platform and piles-, weighs approximately 8,500 tonnes. The substation will be shipped by barge to the German zone of the Baltic Sea during August.
Substation Andalucía will become the power core of the offshore wind farm that Iberdrola is constructing in the Baltic Sea.
This engineering project was designed by Iberdrola to withstand the extreme weather conditions in the region and comprises two sections, also referred to as superstructures, which will be employed by Iberdrola and 50Hertz, the electricity system operator in this region of Germany. The construction of the substation supported 700 jobs and, thanks to this initiative, Navantia has made headway into the offshore wind power industry.
The project is thought to be the first offshore substation built with two topsides and a six-legged pre-piled jacket. It will also have a fully automatic and remotely controlled operating capability.
During his speech, Ignacio Galán underscored the catalytic effect that Iberdrola has had on Spanish companies through this renewable energy initiative: “The prominent role of Spanish industry in this project shines brightly with the construction of the substation and its platform at these Navantia shipyards; the 29 wind turbine platforms at the Navantia shipyards at the Ferrol Ria; the piles that will secure these platforms, the wind turbine towers crafted in Avilés by the Asturian company Windar, and, last but not least, the wind turbines built by Gamesa (Adwen). At Puerto Real, the execution of the contract has created jobs for hundreds of workers and involved over 120 regional companies in their capacities as suppliers”.
José Manuel Revuelta in turn emphasised that “this contract shores up Navantia's position as a benchmark constructor for offshore structures in offshore wind farm applications, a growing sector in Europe, primarily in the United Kingdom and Germany. Moreover, it allows Navantia to diversify its offering and provide work in a sector that is fully complementary to the naval sector”.
The Wikinger offshore wind farm will have an installed power capacity of 350 MW on the basis of the installation of 70 wind turbines, each with a capacity of 5 MW, at a site spanning an area of approximately 34 square kilometres. Iberdrola is developing this project in the Baltic Sea, where water depths vary between 37 and 43 metres. The project is scheduled to go online at the end of 2017.
Iberdrola describes itself as Europe's largest electricity utility and a benchmark in renewable energies.
By Jake Frith
