Netherlands-based transmission system operator TenneT has awarded contracts worth around €30 billion (~$33 billion) to four partners to develop and deliver 14 offshore grid connection systems.

The systems will link offshore wind farms in the German and Dutch sectors of the North Sea to high-voltage grids on land and are expected to be completed by 2031.

The four partnerships are with Siemens Energy/Dragados consortium, GE/McDermott, Hitachi Energy/Petrofac, and GE/Sembcorp Marine.

Eight of the 14 offshore grid connection systems will be developed in the Netherlands and six in Germany.

The core components of these systems will be sea and land-based converter stations that can convert alternating current into direct current and back. This allows for the efficient transmission of large amounts of electricity over long distances with minimal losses. The core components will be manufactured exclusively at the European production sites of the consortia’s members.

The systems will have a total capacity of 28 GW, equivalent to the electricity output of 28 large-scale power plants. They will connect multiple offshore wind farms with a combined capacity of 40 GW, about two-thirds of the total offshore wind capacity planned by Belgium, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands by 2030.

The four countries signed the Esbjerg Declaration at the North Sea Energy Summit in May 2022, agreeing to jointly install at least 65 GW of offshore wind energy by 2030. The ambitious plan requires Europe’s green powerhouse, the North Sea, to be developed and quickly connected to the electricity grids on land.

TenneT’s investment of €30 billion and its 2 GW Program is expected to help make green wind energy from the North Sea scalable and more cost-efficient – while continuing to minimize any impacts on the environment.

TenneT’s Chief Operating Officer, Tim Meyerjürgens, stated that the company has the necessary know-how to make Europe’s goal of securing an independent supply of renewable energies a reality.

TenneT’s plan to expand its offshore transmission capacity to 25 GW in Germany and 11.5 GW in the Netherlands by 2030 significantly contributes to achieving the European Union’s target of increasing the share of renewable energy sources in its final energy consumption by at least 32% by 2030.

Earlier this month, Germany’s Federal Network Agency launched a new offshore wind auction to install 1.8 GW of offshore wind power projects in the North Sea, with an expected grid connection date of 2028.

The Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency published the area development plan 2023 aimed at helping Germany achieve its target of expanding offshore wind energy to 30 GW by 2030. The plan included mappings for deploying wind turbines in the North and Baltic Seas, where the country sees immense potential for offshore wind.