General direction north–south Manufacturer of conductor/cable ABB Commissioned 2009 | Coordinates r Plant)] From Platform BorWin Alpha Manufacturer of substations ABB | |
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Type of current High-voltage direct current | ||
Hvdc borwin1 top 6 facts
HVDC BorWin1 is the first HVDC facility in Germany to use Voltage Sourced Converters (VSC), and the first in the world to be built for importing power from an offshore wind park to shore. It is used for the power connection of the offshore wind park BARD Offshore 1 and other offshore wind farms in Germany near Borkum to the European power grid. The facility was built by ABB and can transfer a power of 400 MW at a bipolar voltage of ±150 kV. HVDC BorWin1, which leads from BorWin Alpha Offshore Platform to Diele substation, consists of a 75 kilometres (47 mi) of underground and 125 kilometres (78 mi) of submarine cable.
Unlike the later (and more powerful) HVDC connections that have been built for transmitting wind power to shore in Germany, Borwin 1 uses two-level converters in which several hundred IGBTs are connected directly in series in each valve. Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is used to improve the level of harmonics but filtering is still needed. One converter is provided at each end of the link, in the symmetrical monopole configuration.
Borwin 1 is operated by the German Transmission System Operator TenneT (formerly Transpower Stromübertragungs GmbH). and construction and commissioning were completed in 2009, although the project has had many technical difficulties since that date. In March 2014 a fire on the platform caused the scheme to be shut down for several months.