Swiss power and automation technology provider ABB has installed a 320kV converter station called DolWin beta at the 916MW DolWin2 offshore wind project in the German North Sea.

The equipment will be able to connect offshore wind farms in the North Sea’s DolWin cluster with the electricity grid in Germany.

Once operational, the offshore project will have the capacity to meet the energy requirements of more than a million households.

As well as facilitating conversion of the power generated by the offshore wind farms from alternating current (AC) into high-voltage direct current (HVDC), the converter station will ensure its reliable transmission to the mainland.

The entire platform with substructures will weigh around 23,000t and be 100m-long, 70m-wide and 100m-tall.

ABB, which is responsible for the design, engineering, supply and installation of the offshore wind connection, intends to handover the project to Dutch electricity transmission system operator TenneT in mid-2016.

Along with the convertor platform, the scope of the project also includes installation of sea and land cable systems and an onshore converter station.

In addition, the firm was responsible for the DolWin1 grid connection project, which was commissioned and handed over to TenneT in July.

Both DolWin1 and DolWin2 are parts of the German long-term power strategy named ‘Energiewende’.

The European nation intends to shift its focus towards renewable energy, aiming to achieve more than 6.5GW of power generation from offshore wind by 2020, which will be raised to 15GW by 2030.