TenneT and the GE Vernova Seatrium consortium have celebrated the start of platform IJmuiden Ver Beta construction, one of the first Dutch 2 GW grid connection projects.
The HVDC offshore converter platform is slated to connect the IJmuiden Ver Beta wind farm and be installed in the Dutch North Sea in 2028. GE Vernova is responsible for the 2 GW HVDC system, and Seatrium is set to engineer and manufacture the platform.
Under the framework agreement, the GE Vernova Seatrium consortium has been awarded Dutch projects IJmuiden Ver Beta, IJmuiden Ver Gamma and Nederwiek 2, that will be connected to the high voltage grid at Maasvlakte.
“After years of preparation engineering and procurement in a challenging time, it is a great pleasure to see that the IJmuiden Ver Beta platform will now begin to take physical shape,” says TenneT’s Jessie van der Linden.
“It is a memorable and proud moment as it is also the very first 2GW platform of which at least 12 are to follow in the next years.”
The grid connection is expected to be commissioned in 2029. Wind power produced will be transported as alternating current to the offshore converter platform, using a 66-kV connection.
Electricity will be transported via a 155 kilometer long innovative 525 kV cable connection to the onshore converter station at Amaliahaven. Due to the distance and the power to be transported, the company says direct current is ideal for the project’s low-loss transport.
