DolWin beta
Aibel's first wind converter platform.
The beginning of a shift
The platform was a collaboration project between Aibel and ABB. Aibel has designed and built the platform, whilst ABB had the overall project responsibility and supplied cables and the conversion equipment.
DolWin Beta is a self-installing gravity-based structure (GBS) platform and was built for a large wind farm cluster near Helgoland in the German sector of the North Sea. It receives alternating current from wind farms, and converts it into direct current before sending it onshore via subsea cables.
The actual construction was carried out in Dubai before the platform arrived in Norway in August 2014. The project was managed from Aibel’s office in Haugesund, and the platform was towed from the yard and out to the DolWin field in the summer 2015.
Facts
Contract: EPC (engineering, procurement and construction)
Client: TenneT
Value: Approx. NOK 1.7 billion
Delivery: 2015
DolWin beta is 70 metres tall, 74 metres wide and 99 metres long and will stand on the seabed at a depth of 29 metres. It has separate living quarters for 24 people, a helipad and two lifting cranes.
Has a capacity of 916 MW from three wind parks counting more than 200 turbines.
At most, around 200 employees worked on the wind platform.