TenneT has cut first steel for its 900MW DolWin5 offshore wind converter platform that is destined for the German North Sea.
The transmission system operator said the milestone was reached earlier this week at the Keppel Offshore & Marine yard in Singapore.
Once the topside is finished, it will be sent to Aibel in Norway where converters and transformers will be fitted.
Completion is planned for 2024.
The high-voltage direct current transmission system will connect the Borkum Riffgrund 3 wind farm off the coast of Lower Saxony with the extra-high voltage grid on land.
The wind power produced at sea will be fed as a three-phase current to the platform using a direct 66kV connection from the turbines.
Power will converted into direct current on DolWin5 and transported a total of 130km to the Emden/Ost converter station.