IN Brief:
- Nederwiek 3 and LanWin 5 will each provide 2GW of offshore transmission capacity.
- Hitachi Energy and Larsen & Toubro will deliver converter technology, platforms, and onshore infrastructure.
- Nederwiek 3 is being designed to support possible future integration with LionLink.
Hitachi Energy and Larsen & Toubro have secured contracts to deliver two further 2GW offshore grid connections for TenneT, adding another 4GW of planned transmission capacity between North Sea wind developments and the continental European power system.
While Nederwiek 3 will connect offshore generation to Geertruidenberg in the Netherlands, LanWin 5 will land in Lower Saxony, Germany. The awards are the third and fourth projects placed with the consortium under TenneT’s wider 2GW framework, which is intended to create a repeatable technical platform for large offshore transmission schemes.
Each project will use high-voltage direct current technology to transmit electricity over long subsea distances with lower losses than an equivalent alternating-current connection. Hitachi Energy will supply the HVDC converter systems, while Larsen & Toubro will lead the engineering, procurement, construction, installation, and commissioning of the offshore platforms and associated onshore infrastructure.
Rated at a combined 4GW, the two connections will be capable of transferring output comparable with several large conventional generating units. Their scale also reflects the move beyond the 900MW and 1.4GW export systems used by many earlier North Sea projects, as individual links become larger and more deeply integrated with national transmission plans.
Standardising offshore transmission
Because TenneT’s 2GW programme is based on a standardised design, successive projects can draw on a common engineering platform rather than beginning each converter system from first principles. Project-specific design remains necessary at landing points, substations, cable routes, and grid interfaces, but repeated equipment specifications can reduce engineering variation and provide greater visibility across procurement and manufacture.
That approach is increasingly important as offshore wind development places sustained pressure on the high-voltage supply chain. Converter transformers, valves, switchgear, export cables, protection systems, control equipment, and specialist installation vessels all carry long production or mobilisation periods, while factories and ports must accommodate several major projects progressing in parallel.
Although standardisation can simplify interfaces, each link will still require detailed studies covering harmonic performance, reactive-power control, fault response, protection coordination, and interaction with the existing transmission system. HVDC converter stations are now expected to contribute actively to network operation, particularly where conventional synchronous generation represents a declining share of connected capacity.
With Nederwiek 3 being designed for possible future integration with LionLink, the project may eventually support a multipurpose interconnector between the Netherlands and Great Britain. Such a configuration would combine offshore generation collection with cross-border electricity trading, moving beyond the conventional model in which one wind development connects radially to one national system.
From radial links to offshore networks
As offshore systems become more interconnected, multi-terminal HVDC protection and control will have to operate across a larger and more varied electrical environment. Faults must be isolated without unnecessarily disconnecting substantial volumes of generation, while converter controls must remain stable across different market schedules, power-flow directions, and network conditions.
Commercial arrangements will develop alongside the electrical architecture because energy from a shared offshore asset may move between generation zones, national markets, and balancing areas. Capacity allocation, congestion revenue, outage responsibility, and the treatment of transmission losses all become more complex when a single 2GW asset serves more than one function.
Research into floating converter platforms is advancing for deeper-water locations, with the RHODÉ programme developing floating HVDC infrastructure for areas where fixed-bottom structures may become impractical. Nederwiek 3 and LanWin 5 will use the established offshore platform model, yet both projects sit within the same broader effort to extend transmission technology as wind development moves farther offshore.
Even where generation capacity is available, offshore output cannot reach customers without converter stations, subsea cables, onshore substations, and coordinated reinforcement across the receiving network. Delivery therefore depends on a chain of electrical and civil works whose timescales must remain aligned with turbine installation and commissioning.
The two links will extend the industrial base behind Europe’s offshore grid while increasing demand for high-voltage equipment, specialist vessels, cable systems, and experienced engineering teams. Their performance will also provide further operating evidence for the 2GW standard that TenneT is applying across its Dutch and German development portfolios.
