Siemens has won a contract for offshore and onshore substations for the 950MW Moray East project off the coast of Scotland.
The deal covers three offshore transformer modules, which are smaller in size and weight to conventional AC platforms and so do not require special vessels for transport and installation.
Siemens will also supply an onshore substation to transform electricity into 275kV for feeding into the main grid.
Smulders has been contracted to build the three OTMs for Siemens.
Siemens will also install 30km of underground export cable to the onshore substation at New Deer in Aberdeenshire.
Preparatory work has already started at the site of the onshore substation, the company added. Siemens has appointed local contractor I&H Brown to manage the site enabling work.
It is anticipated Moray East will be operational by April 2021.
Siemens Energy Management managing director Carl Ennis said: “These large-scale renewable projects make me incredibly proud. Not only do they incorporate our engineering excellence on a massive scale, they showcase our commitment to renewables and clean energy generation.
“We are delighted our market-leading technology is being used on this project.”
EDPR, Engie and Diamond Generating Europe are developing the wind farm, with Kansai Electric Power and Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance also involved as shareholders in DGE subsidiary Diamond Green.
The £2.6bn project reached financial close today.
Moray East board director Dan Finch said: “Moray East marks a major milestone in the progress of the offshore wind industry. Not only will it deliver plentiful, sustainable, renewable power, it will do so at a highly competitive price – to the economic advantage of both the household and the country.
“Offshore wind farms pay rent for the use of the sea bed – and last week we made our first payment of £6m to Crown Estate Scotland – so the country is already benefiting before we have even produced a single unit of power.
“Last month we announced the port of Cromarty Firth will be used as the project’s intermediate port during construction, and in the long term, we announced in summer that Fraserburgh will be the operations and maintenance base for the lifetime of the wind farm.
“Throughout the development process we have worked with local and national stakeholders to enable advantage to be taken of the new opportunities brought by offshore wind.
“We are grateful to all those who have engaged with us to take the project to this point and look forward to continuing to work with them through the construction, delivery and operation which will enable those opportunities to be realised.”
Siemens supplied two OTMs to the Beatrice offshore wind farm (pictured).