Massive Substation ‘Andalucía’ Sets Sail For 350 MW German Offshore Wind Farm
August 17th, 2016 by Joshua S Hill
One of the world’s largest offshore substations departed from Cadiz in Southern Spain this past weekend, setting sail for the 350 MW Wikinger offshore windfarm in the German zone of the Baltic Sea.
The ‘Andalucía’ substation was built by Navantia at the Puerto Real shipyard, with a budget of €1.4 billion, weighing in at over 8,500 tonnes — heavier than the Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty combined. The substation will not only be used by developer Iberdrola for its Wikinger offshore wind farm, but will also be used by German electricity system operator 50Hertz for its own offshore wind developments.
This means that Andalucía has two topsides, the upper part, the first offshore substation to have such a feature.
Delivery of the Andalucía was celebrated earlier this month at a ceremony attended by executives from the involved companies, as well as European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Cañete.
The Wikinger offshore wind farm is expected to generate enough electricity to supply the electricity needs of some 350,000 German homes per year, and avoid the emissions of 600,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. The Andalucía will be responsible for distributing the electricity generated from the 350 MW wind farm from sea to shore.
ScottishPower Renewables, which leads Iberdrola’s global offshore developments, masterminded Andalucía’s departure from Cadiz.
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