Siemens Energy and Saipem join floating substation race to help wind power go deeper

Power technology and engineering groups sign MoU to develop 500MW system able to operate in 'most extreme environments'

Siemens Energy CEO Christian Bruch.Foto: Siemens Energy

Andrew Lee

Siemens Energy and Saipem will link for an effort to design a 500MW floating substation they claim will help future giant wind farms cut the cost of their push into “the most extreme environments” in deep waters far offshore.

The German power technology giant and Italian offshore engineering contractor claimed the high-voltage alternating current (HVAC) substation based on “a proven semisubmersible substructure” and offering “enhanced stability” will be scalable and able to support giant floating wind projects operating in deep waters beyond the reach of fixed-foundation structures.

While few details of the planned design were released, the partners, who signed a memorandum of understanding to pursue the “cutting edge” technology, said it will “address floating wind power’s critical need for industrialisation as it can be adapted to fabrication and assembly infrastructures worldwide”.

Agustin Tenorio, vice president for transmission systems at Siemens Energy, said: “The new joint solution will significantly optimise critical technical parameters, such as weight, electrical efficiency, and asset longevity, thus lowering the production costs and enabling an unprecedented number of countries to benefit from large-scale offshore wind generation.”

While floating turbine foundation designs have multiplied apace, concepts for platforms that can take heavy electrical infrastructure into the same deep waters have so far been slower to emerge.

Siemens Energy’s market rival Hitachi ABB is involved in separate substation initiatives with Linxon and BW Ideol, while seabed infrastructure has also been proposed to accompany floating turbine arrays.

DNV calculates floating wind projects currently make up over 15% of the total offshore wind deployment in the pipeline for switch-on by mid-century, some 264GW of the 1,748GW slated to be installed.

Saipem has accelerated into offshore wind over the last few years, with a growing profile in floating technology that includes its own Hexafloat concept and was bolstered by the acquisition last year of the floating wind operation of France’s Naval Energies.

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