With its 175×3.6 MW wind turbines and a total capacity of 630 MW the London Array offshore wind farm first phase will, following completion, be the largest of its kind in the world. Siemens Energy, which was contracted to supply the turbines for the wind farm, has now received the order to connect London Array to the power supply network. Purchasers are Dong Energy, E.ON and Masdar, the wind farm’s owners. The order volume is GBP116 million (EUROS 128 million). The wind farm is scheduled to be completed by 2012 and will be connected to London’s power supply network.
The facility is being erected in the Thames estuary off the Kent and Essex coasts. An option is also provided for uprating London Array to as much as 1000 MW which would make it the first in the 1 GW class. That will be sufficient to supply approximately a quarter of the 12 million population of Greater London.
Siemens will supply the electrical equipment for two offshore substation platforms, which will be installed right at the wind farm. The substations bundle the power generated by the 175 turbines before it is transported via high-voltage subsea cable to the coast. On each of the platforms there are two 180 MVA transformers and medium-voltage switchgear. The requisite protection and instrumentation and control equipment is also installed on the platforms. Distribution over two platforms has the advantage that the cable routes within the wind farm are short, and power transmission losses are kept as low as possible to enhance the wind farm’s energy efficiency.
Siemens will also prepare the requisite design studies for grid access for all of the wind farm’s electrical components and prepare the grid studies to demonstrate fulfillment of grid access requirements. The provision of energy-efficient grid access for offshore wind farms contributes to a renewables portfolio totalledat about EUROS 23 billion, making Siemens the world’s largest supplier of eco-friendly technologies.
