Dutch grid operator TenneT has picked Dura Vermeer, BAM Infra Nederland, and Visser & Smit Bouw to carry out civil engineering works for the construction of converter stations to channel electricity from offshore wind farms onto the Netherlands’ national grid.
The trio will build at least eight of these “land stations” between 2024 and 2030, TenneT said.
Using a new, 2GW standard, the stations will convert the wind farms’ power from high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) to alternating current, and the voltage from 525kV to 380kV.
TenneT said the 2GW capacity per system will cut the number of grid connections required.
TenneT wants to improve its wind farm connection capacity, which now is around 7.2GW in the German North Sea and around 2.8GW in the Dutch North Sea.
It said the transition to offshore wind “will help Europe become the world’s first climate-neutral continent”.
The companies are now working on the stations’ detailed design. The first is expected in 2026.
TenneT said they were selected on quality, safety, and sustainability.
Its director of large offshore projects, Marco Kuijpers, said the stations’ roofs would be built on the ground and then raised into place, cutting the need to work at height.
Where possible, wood and recycled concrete will be used to replace steel and fresh concrete.
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