ABB recently won a $25 million contract from the electrical transmission system operator RTE France to supply transformer products and services to create safe, reliable grid connections for ongoing offshore wind power projects that will help boost France’s renewable energy supply.
ABB will supply nine 400-megavolt ampere (MVA) booster transformers to help regulate the voltage of power transmitted from four large-scale offshore wind projects being built at various points along the Atlantic coast of France. Deliveries are scheduled from 2017 to 2020.
This is part of the French government’s plan to add 6,000 MW of offshore generation capacity by 2020. The energy produced would represent 3.5 percent of the country’s national energy consumption, while the overall goal is for 23 percent of France’s energy to come from a mix of renewable energy sources by 2020.
“ABB specialty transformers based on cutting-edge design and engineering technologies help maximize reliability and efficiency in vital grid connections, which are one of the target growth segments of our Next Level strategy,” said Markus Heimbach, head of ABB’s Transformers business, a part of the company’s Power Products division. “We are pleased to support RTE’s efforts to integrate more renewable energy into the French grid, contributing to a more sustainable world.”
