The green future of offshore wind hubs and hybrid connections

EXPLORE

BORNHOLM ENERGY ISLAND

50Hertz and Energinet have joined forces to fully harvest the offshore wind potential held in the Baltic Sea, power the green transition in Germany and Denmark, and spearhead a new idea for connecting offshore wind farms across borders: the Bornholm Energy Island (BEI) project. This innovative and visionary project will connect multiple wind farms together via a single hub and transport the green electricity that they generate to consumers in both countries while providing transmission capacity for cross-border trading.

VISION & TECHNICAL FEATURES

Together, 50Hertz and Energinet want to establish a power hub on the island of Bornholm that is able to provide electricity to consumers in either country, depending on the market and demand in Germany, Denmark and Europe more widely. Electricity generated by the wind farms located off the coast of the island will be centralised at this hub and then converted into high-voltage direct current (HVDC) and transported via 525 kV HVDC sea and land cable systems to onshore substations in Zealand (in Denmark) and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (in Germany). In addition, the BEI project will enable the local community on the island to be connected to both Zealand and continental Europe.  

Cooperation between countries is the way forward

50Hertz and Energinet are pioneering innovators. BEI will pave the way to a future in which offshore wind energy is no longer harvested by individual countries alone. Instead, in line with the offshore wind potential held by different countries and electricity demand in these, two or more countries will cooperate to efficiently integrate the green electricity generated by offshore wind farms into their energy systems.

We at 50Hertz and Energinet hold a significant amount of expertise in feeding electricity from offshore wind farms into our power grids. The Kriegers Flak - Combined Grid Solution (KF CGS), our joint project which has been fully operational since 2021, laid the foundations for making hybrid interconnectors a reality in both the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. We will continue to use our know-how to implement ever-evolving, more complex and more efficient on- and offshore energy hubs.

NEWS & EVENTS

50Hertz and Energinet welcome EU Support for Bornholm Energy Island-project in the Baltic Sea

The European Commission has provided funding from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) program in the amount of 645 million EUR - underlining the importance of green transition for The European Union and providing financial support for the world’s first hybrid direct current interconnector

The project, which is jointly developed by grid operators 50Hertz and Energinet, includes a power hub on the island of Bornholm with two converters, direct current connections to the Danish and German mainland and additional converter systems there for converting direct current into alternating current. This infrastructure will be used to harvest the planned three gigawatts of power from offshore wind farms of Bornholm and make it available to the electricity markets in Germany and Denmark in line with demand.  To this end, it is the first time Energinet and 50Hertz have issued a joint tender of cross border electrical infrastructure.

Bornholm Energy Island is an innovative project that can serve as a model for further interconnections in the North and Baltic Seas. Before the start of the next project phase, which includes the signing of contracts for converters, transformers and other substation technology, regulatory clarity is needed on the German and Danish side. Consequently, the TSOs are not able to sign contracts in their current tender The signing of the contracts has therefore been postponed.  Consequently, the signing of contracts in the ongoing tender will not yet be done.

Energinet and 50Hertz will continue their close cooperation in dialogue with the Danish and German governments.

MARKET DIALOGUE

Bornholm Energy Island is one of two Energy Islands being planned in Danish waters as a result of the Danish Climate Agreement adopted by the Danish Parliament in June 2020. Bornholm Energy Island will have a production capacity of 3 GW.

 

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