NETDA dispatches world's biggest offshore converter station

The world's largest and Asia's first offshore converter station is expected to provide about 1.36 million households with annual electricity consumption after being put into operation. [Photo provided to NETDA]

The world's largest offshore power converter station recently left Nantong city – located in East China's Jiangsu province – bound for the Rudong offshore electricity wind farm in the Yellow Sea.

A delivery ceremony was held for the unit on July 8 at the Nantong Economic & Technological Development Area or NETDA, which is located in Nantong.

Jointly funded and constructed by the China Three Gorges Corporation and the China General Nuclear Power Corporation, the direct current or DC power converter is now located at the wind farm, 70 kilometers from shore and has a rated transmission capacity of 1,100 megawatts.

As a core piece of equipment for the offshore wind power farm, the converter station comprises an upper section that was delivered on July 10 and a lower jacket platform that was installed in the sea in January.

As the heart of the offshore converter station, the six-story steel building will transform power generated by three massive offshore wind turbines and convert it into direct current electricity, which will then be transmitted to an onshore receiving station via a submarine cable, before suppling the national power grid.

After starting operations, the project will be able to meet the electricity needs of 1.36 million households a year and is expected to contribute to the country's efforts to realize its pledge of peak carbon emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060.

In recent years, Nantong city has pursued the concept of energy-saving, clean and safe energy development. In so doing, it has focused on the development of the wind power industry.