Iberdrola successfully completes installation of the Baltic Eagle offshore substation

The offshore substation of the Baltic Eagle wind farm has been successfully installed in German waters of the Baltic Sea. The operation was executed by Heerema Marine Contractors using the installation vessel Thialf. 

The function of the substation is to collect the electricity produced by the wind turbines and transform the voltage from 66 kV to 220 kV before feeding it into the grid. The installation manoeuvre was the largest lifting operation of the Baltic Eagle project, with an estimated total net weight of around 4,200 tonnes. Iberdrola now begins the offshore construction phase, with the energisation of the OSS substation and the placement of the monopiles that will allow the wind turbines to be anchored to the seabed. The monopiles were manufactured by EEW SPC in Rostock (Germany) and the transition pieces by Windar in Avilés. 

The evacuation of the electricity to the grid will be carried out via two existing submarine cables covering a distance of 90 km to Lubmin where the connection point to the transmission grid operated by the company 50Hertz is located. 

In May 2021, Iberdrola and 50Hertz signed an agreement to cooperate on the construction, installation and commissioning of the Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm OSS. Iemants-Fabricom was responsible for the manufacture of all structural elements of the substation, offshore contractor Heerema for the transportation and installation, and Siemens Gas and Power for the supply of all main electrical equipment for the low voltage part managed by Iberdrola. 

Iris Stempfle, Managing Director of the Offshore Division and Deputy CEO of Iberdrola Deutschland, said: "The offshore substation is a key technological building block for the supply of sustainable energy to hundreds of thousands of households as well as for the decarbonisation of German industry. We are very pleased to have achieved this milestone in close cooperation with 50Hertz, as planned". 

Stefan Kapferer, CEO of 50Hertz: "The Baltic Sea still has a lot of potential and 50Hertz, together with partners like Iberdrola, will help to achieve the German and European renewable capacity targets. I congratulate all the people and companies involved for the successful installation of the Baltic Eagle substation. We are now closer to completing the Ostwind 2 grid connection project". Ostwind 2 is the project to connect the Arcadis Ost 1 and Baltic Eagle offshore wind farms to the German high-voltage grid. To transfer the power from both wind farms, 50Hertz is building three submarine cable systems with a total transmission capacity of 750 megawatts (MW). 

The substation consists of a foundation and an upper part that houses the transformers and electrical equipment. Its four-legged steel foundation weighs about 2,900 tonnes and is anchored to the seabed with two piles driven into each leg. The roof consists of a five-storey enclosed module. 

As one of the key elements of the Baltic Eagle wind farm, the substation is responsible for collecting and exporting all the electricity that the wind farm is expected to produce, estimated at around 1.9 TWh per year. This production will be able to sustainably meet the demand of more than half a million households and avoid the emission of 800,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere each year. 

The Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm is located northeast of the island of Rügen off the coast of Pomerania in the Baltic Sea and is planned and operated from the local port of Mukran in Sassnitz. With its 50 wind turbines of 9.5 MW each, it will have a capacity of 476 MW. After installation of the turbines, the wind farm will be operational in 2024. 

Baltic Eagle is part of Iberdrola's Baltic Hub in the Baltic Sea. Together with Wikinger (350 MW) and the planned Windanker (300 MW), the Hub will have an installed capacity of more than 1.1 GW by 2026, underpinning the company's strategic focus on the region. Iberdrola and 50Hertz are committed to the German energy transition, promoting green growth and the sustainable transformation of industries across the European Union, including the reindustrialisation and modernisation of European shipyards. Working together, both companies contribute to creating high-quality jobs along the entire renewable energy value chain, from the local site on the island of Rügen to regional contractors in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and European suppliers such as Windar.