STX France AS has completed the steel works on the offshore distribution station for the 385MW Arkona wind farm in the Baltic Sea.
The substation has now been moved by a transport barge from its previous dock in STX France’s shipyard in Saint Nazaire to a dry dock.
This so-called “keel-laying” ceremony was commemorated by project partners E.ON, Statoil, and 50Hertz together with STX France in St. Nazaire on the Atlantic coast.
Weighing over 5,000 tons and as tall as a 5-floor apartment block, the distribution station will form the centerpiece of the Arkona offshore wind farm, currently under construction by E.ON together with its partner Statoil off the coast of the German island Rügen.
Arkona will comprise 60 6MW Siemens turbines scheduled for commissioning in 2019. The offshore platform will be used simultaneously by the Arkona wind farm and the power grid operator 50Hertz.
The Arkona substation will collect the power generated by the wind farm’s turbines and transfer it to 50Hertz’s onshore substation in Lubmin via the 93-kilometre Ostwind 1 cable system .
At the offshore distribution station, the electrotechnical components are currently being fitted. The station will then be transported by sea along the French Atlantic coast to the Baltic. This journey will take nearly two weeks to complete and is expected to take place in early 2018.