Dragados Offshore has started construction work related to the LanWin2 project at the port facilities in Campamento, San Roque, which includes the manufacturing of three energy converter platforms for an offshore wind farm in the German sector of the North Sea. The start of the works has occurred within the schedule set by the company, which had indicated the beginning of activities in May, and has led to the first meetings in the Algeciras offices with its partner Siemens Energy and its client, the Dutch-German electricity transmission operator TenneT.
The first construction works have begun with the arrival of the Upper Grillage beams, necessary elements for the assembly and joining of the structural set that will shape the grillage of the LanWin beta platform. Previously, preparations were made for the plot to allow the development of operations and support the weight of the structures to be built, estimated at around 34,000 tons per unit, including the substructure (jacket) of about 10,000 tons and the superstructure (topside) of about 24,000 tons.
The contract includes the design, construction, and installation of three HVDC converter platforms (high voltage direct current) with a capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW) each, named BalWin3, LanWin2, and LanWin4. These installations will function to collect the alternating current generated by the offshore wind turbines at 66 kV, convert it into high voltage direct current (525 kV HVDC), and facilitate its transport to the conversion stations located on land, in the German towns of Wilhelmshaven and Heide, approximately 200 kilometers away. The project is part of Germany's Energy Transition Plan, which includes the construction of a significant offshore wind energy generation network.
In addition to the activity that is already taking place on the port land of Campamento, belonging to the Port Authority of the Bay of Algeciras (APBA), Dragados Offshore will incorporate their facilities in Puerto Real in a later phase, where the assembly of one of the three planned platforms will take place. The components of the units will arrive from Italian shipyards for integration and assembly at both locations in the province of Cádiz. The departure of the platforms to Germany is scheduled for 2031.
The new facility in Campamento adds to the other three shipyards that Dragados Offshore already has: the one in Puerto Real, in the province of Cádiz, and those in Tampico and Altamira, in Mexico. According to the company, this new site is prepared for the execution of 2 GW HVDC offshore platforms following the investments made to set it up. In addition to the LanWin2 project, Dragados Offshore is developing five other HVDC platforms of the same type.
The establishment on the port land of Campamento responds to a concession granted by the APBA, opening the possibility for the company to maintain activity on this land with new projects. Dragados Offshore will install offices and will have personnel at this site, in a structure similar to the one maintained in Puerto Real, where its headquarters is located in the province and where it has been operating for almost half a century. Each platform will generate more than 2,000 jobs, with peaks of activity of up to 1,000 workers between its own staff and contractor companies at the Cádiz facilities.
