EGEB: Hitachi ABB debuts power products for floating offshore wind

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• Hitachi ABB Power Grids launches transformer products for offshore floating wind farms.
• Turbine installation is complete at Denmark’s largest wind farm, the offshore Kriegers Flak.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

Power products for floating offshore wind

Switzerland-headquartered Hitachi ABB Power Grids has launched a portfolio of transformer products for offshore floating wind farms.

The portfolio, which Hitachi developed in partnership with floating offshore wind developers, includes collector step-up transformers, which step up turbine generator output voltage from a few hundred volts to the collector system’s medium voltage distribution levels; earthing transformers; shunt reactors – absorbers of reactive power – for floating substations; and wind turbine transformers for floating wind turbines.

Hitachi ABB, which announced on Friday that it will switch to 100% fossil-free electricity by the end of this year, says its new transformer products will enable much greater volumes of wind to be efficiently harvested and integrated into energy systems.

The Biden administration announced on May 25 that the US Pacific Coast will be open to commercial-scale offshore clean energy projects for the first time, and floating offshore wind technology will need to be utilized in California waters because the continental shelf falls away quickly, into deep waters. So Hitachi’s floating electrical systems are a timely arrival for that announcement, and for the fledgling floating offshore wind industry in general.

Check out Hitachi ABB’s video below about their new transformers for floating wind turbines, and how offshore floating wind will unleash great clean energy potential:

Kriegers Flak wind turbines

Turbine installation is complete at what is now Denmark’s largest wind farm. The 604 megawatt Kriegers Flak offshore wind farm is 9 to 25 miles (15 to 40 kilometers) off the east coast of Denmark in the Baltic Sea. It will provide enough energy for around 600,000 Danish households and increase Danish wind production by around 16%.

Kriegers Flak consists of 72 Siemens Gamesa 8.4 MW turbines, installed by offshore development company Jan De Nul. Each turbine is 617 feet (188 meters) in height. The 72nd wind turbine was installed on June 5, and the first turbine was installed in February.

The wind farm will be serviced out of Swedish energy company Vattenfall’s new service facility at the Port of Klintholm, which is south of Copenhagen.

Kriegers Flak’s testing will need to be finalized, and it will then be certified, so that it can come online after summer.

Catrin Jung, head of offshore wind in Vattenfall, said:

Despite COVID-19, we have been able to deliver according to plan – actually a little ahead of schedule.

Photo: Hitachi ABB