TenneT awards $25 bln in contracts to build North Sea-to-shore connections (updated)

McDermott International

30/03/2023 08:28

(Updates with details of contracts, TenneT plans)
       AMSTERDAM, March 30 (Reuters) - Dutch state-owned
electric grid company TenneT  IPO-TTH.AS  has awarded 11
contracts worth a combined 23 billion euros ($25 billion) to
build systems connecting wind farms in the North Sea to shore,
it said on Thursday. 
    The contracts are being awarded to consortia led by Hitachi
Energy and by General Electric.
    TenneT is spending tens of billions of euros over the next
decade to connect North Sea wind farms to the electric grid in
Germany and the Netherlands. Each of the planned links is
capable of carrying 2 gigawatts (GW) of electricity, it said.
    General Electric  GE.N  said it had been awarded three
contracts worth a total of around 6 billion euros in combination
with Singapore's Sembcorp Marine  SCMN.SI , and two others in a
consortium with McDermott worth another 4 billion euros in
total.
    The other consortium of Hitachi Energy  6501.T  and Petrofac
Ltd  PFC.L  said it had signed a 13 billion euro agreement for
six projects.
    The connection systems that TenneT and the companies are
planning will convert the alternating current (AC) electricity
collected from individual wind turbines to high voltage DC
current and bring it to onshore converter stations.
    Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Belgium are overseeing
projects to build 65 GW worth of offshore wind by 2030 as Europe
tries to reduce reliance on fossil fuel and meet climate goals.
    TenneT will oversee the grid for about two-thirds of that
capacity.
    The Dutch and German governments are in talks for Germany to
buy TenneT's German operations in light of the company's massive
investment needs, estimated at over 100 billion euros in the
coming decade. 

 (Reporting by Toby Sterling Additional reporting by Himanshi
Akhand in Bengaluru Editing by Jan Harvey and Mark Potter)
 ((toby.sterling@thomsonreuters.com;))