BW Ideol AS

BW Ideol and Hitachi ABB Power Grids to collaborate on developing scalable floating substations for offshore wind

BW Ideol today announced it has signed a memorandum of understanding with

Hitachi ABB Power Grids, the world's leading supplier of grid integration and

power quality solutions, for an industry-first collaboration on developing

scalable floating substations to support development of profitable commercial-

scale floating offshore wind farms with high-capacity wind turbines.

Floating offshore wind is the next frontier in offshore wind power. Installed

capacity of floating offshore wind installations is forecast to grow from 66 MW

in 2019 to at least 6.2 GW in 2030(1) as more and more countries in Europe, Asia

and North America are expected to develop deep-water wind resources. Substations

are an essential part of offshore wind farm infrastructure. The power is

transmitted by cable from each wind turbine to the offshore substation where it

is stepped up to a higher voltage and transferred safely and reliably to the

onshore power grid.

Hitachi ABB Power Grids will provide modular, scalable, compact substation

packages for installation on BW Ideol's shallow-draft floating platforms. Both

companies have worked closely together for several years to co-create a

standardized and modular solution that addresses market requirements and the

unique demands of operating in the most challenging environmental and seabed

conditions.

"We are accelerating the delivery of a market-ready floating substation offering

and solution via this unique collaboration," says Paul de la Guérivière, Chief

Executive Officer of BW Ideol. "It brings together two market and technology

leaders to create a standardized and scalable solution for all floating offshore

wind power requirements. Supported by the solid offshore experience of our

strategic investor BW Offshore, the collaboration will be able to deliver fully

integrated technical and financial solutions."

"We are delighted to be partnering BW Ideol to provide a single solution that

helps offshore wind power developers and independent power producers enter

deeper waters," says Alfredo Parres, Head of Renewables at Hitachi ABB Power

Grids. "Our pioneering modular, scalable substations use proven technologies to

make possible this leap into floating renewable energy."

With BW Ideol's unique shallow draft solution, the floating substations will

also be able to be implemented with bottom-fixed wind farms to mitigate

challenging seabed conditions and/or challenging offshore installation

operations. The substations will comprise transformers, switchgear and other

high-voltage products specially developed by Hitachi ABB Power Grids for

floating offshore platforms.

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(1) Global Wind Energy Council - Global Offshore Wind Report 2020

(https://gwec.net/global-offshore-wind-report-2020/).

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