Oss Foundation Installation

The Sofia Offshore Wind Farm reached a key electrical infrastructure milestone with the installation of the offshore converter station on its permanent jacket foundation in August 2024. The project overview explains that the offshore converter station, located at the heart of the wind farm on Dogger Bank, was installed in August 2024 and now sits atop a jacket foundation that has been piled into the seabed. This confirms that by that date the dedicated foundation structure for the offshore converter platform had been fully installed offshore and made ready to receive the topside. The wording indicates a completed, in-place configuration rather than a future or partial activity. This jacket foundation provides the structural base for the offshore converter station that will transform electricity from 66kV AC to 320kV DC before transmitting it via two 220-kilometre export cables to shore. Together with the already driven monopile foundations for Sofia’s 100 turbines, the successful piling and installation of the jacket foundation marks substantial progress in the wind farm’s offshore civil works. With the converter platform now sitting on its installed jacket, subsequent project steps will focus on completing the broader offshore electrical system, including inter-array and export cables, and progressing towards energisation of both the onshore and offshore converter assets in line with the project’s indicative timeline for first power and full operation.