Alstom in Stafford wins part of £1bn offshore wind grid connection contract

Alstom in Stafford has won an order worth around £125m as part of a wider company contract to supply a grid connection to the DolWin offshore wind farm in the North Sea.

The DolWin3 project, owned by TenneT, will utilise high voltage direct current (HVDC) technology, designed and built in Stafford, Alstoms global centre of excellence for HVDC. The contract also underpins the 150 open vacancies that the company has in Stafford, where Alstom already employs around 2,000 people.

Kevin Marriott, Commercial Vice President for North West Europe, said: This is great news for Alstom and for Stafford.

Another major international contract win, following on from recent successes in Brazil, South Korea, Sweden and India, shows just how effective the team at Stafford are in developing HVDC solutions for different situations whether across huge distances on land or for bringing green power to shore.

This latest success puts Alstom in an even stronger position to secure a major share of the UKs planned development of offshore wind.

As the general contractor for TenneT, Alstom will supply and construct both the onshore and offshore converter stations as well as the connecting cable systems for DolWin3. The project will use direct current technology to deliver the energy generated offshore along an 83 km sea cable to the mainland.

From the coast, the power will then be transported a further 79 km via an underground cable to the converter station in Dörpen/West in Lower Saxony in Germany. The onshore grid connection will be supplied as a turnkey solution by Alstom.

In addition, Alstom has been awarded a five-year service contract covering the complete offshore converter station and platform, as well as the onshore converter system. The contract includes inspection, preventive and corrective maintenance, refurbishment and repair, spare parts management and a technology support line.