New 2 GW Class for Offshore Wind: Siemens Energy Builds Converter Platform with German Value Creation
Berlin – Offshore wind grid connection is entering a new performance class: Siemens Energy and Neptun Smulders Offshore Renewables (NSORe) are building a 2-gigawatt (GW) converter platform for the North Sea on behalf of transmission system operator 50Hertz.
New Generation of Offshore Converter Platforms with German Value Creation
The North Sea Connector 2 system is designed to integrate up to 2 GW of offshore wind power from the North Sea into the German electricity grid. According to Siemens Energy, the converter platform will be manufactured predominantly with German value creation. The Neptun Werft, part of the Meyer Werft Group, and Belgian company Smulders will handle the fabrication of the platform structure. Siemens Energy will subsequently equip the platform with the power transmission technology.
Around 95 percent of Siemens Energy's share of the value creation is to be generated in Germany. The transformers will come from Nuremberg, the SF6-free gas-insulated switchgear from Berlin. Siemens Energy is currently expanding its production capacities at German sites with investments totalling several hundred million euros.
The contract also includes a service agreement with a term of up to ten years, covering planned and unplanned maintenance work, IT services and technical on-call support.
New 2 GW Standard for Large Offshore Wind Farms
The offshore converter platform is to be installed approximately 200 kilometres west of the island of Sylt in the North Sea. It converts the alternating current generated by offshore wind farms into direct current at sea, which is then transmitted to shore via subsea cables. At a land converter station in the Schwerin area, the current is converted back into alternating current and fed into the German transmission grid.
The platform consists of two main components: a steel foundation (jacket) and the technical platform installed on top of it (topside). The topside will be manufactured in Rostock-Warnemünde and subsequently equipped with the high-voltage technology. The foundation is being built at Smulders in the Netherlands.
The increasing standardisation on 2 GW systems is intended to enable more efficient planning and implementation of large offshore wind projects in the future. Higher transmission capacities allow larger generation volumes to be integrated via individual grid connections.
Outlook: Offshore Expansion Raises Demands on Grid Infrastructure
As offshore wind energy continues to expand, demands on grid infrastructure are growing. High-performance HVDC systems are set to play a central role in efficiently transmitting and integrating large volumes of electricity over long distances into the power system.
"Expanding offshore grid connections is currently one of the most demanding tasks of the energy transition, especially at the pace now required," said Tim Holt, member of the Executive Board of Siemens Energy.
50Hertz CEO Stefan Kapferer pointed to the importance of domestic manufacturing capacity for the implementation of offshore grid connections. "This demonstrates that domestic shipyards are now capable of offering competitive bids for the construction of offshore platforms," said Kapferer.
Source: IWR Online, 22 Jun 2026
