50Hertz Awards Siemens Energy-NSORe 2 GW HVDC Contract
German transmission system operator 50Hertz has awarded a contract to a consortium comprising Siemens Energy and Neptun Smulders Offshore Renewables (NSORe) for the delivery of a 2 GW offshore HVDC converter system as part of the North Sea Connector 2 project.
The scope covers the engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning of both an offshore converter platform and an onshore converter station. The project combines the LanWin6 offshore grid connection and the DC32 HVDC link, both forming part of the broader NordOstLink transmission corridor connecting the North Sea to eastern Germany.
The offshore converter platform will be located approximately 200 kilometres west of the island of Sylt in the German North Sea. Electricity generated by offshore wind farms will be converted from alternating current to direct current on the platform before being transmitted to shore via subsea cables. At the onshore converter station, sited at a new substation in Mühlenbeck near Schwerin in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the power will be reconverted to alternating current and fed into the transmission grid.
The consortium will deliver the project on a turnkey basis, with commissioning targeted by the end of 2034.
Siemens Energy will supply the core HVDC technology for the platform, including transformers, converter systems and SF₆-free gas-insulated switchgear. The company has confirmed that approximately 95 percent of its project scope will be delivered from German facilities — transformers and converters from Nuremberg, and switchgear from Berlin. Siemens Energy has also secured a long-term service agreement covering maintenance, IT services and on-call support, and expects to fully book the order in its fiscal year beginning 1 October 2026. The company is currently investing several hundred million euros to expand its German manufacturing sites to meet growing demand.
NSORe — a joint venture between Neptun Werft, part of the Meyer Werft Group, and Belgian construction company Smulders, a subsidiary of Group Eiffage — will fabricate the offshore converter platform. The topside structure will be built primarily at the Neptun Werft shipyard in Rostock-Warnemünde and subsequently equipped with Siemens Energy's transmission technology, while Smulders will manufacture the steel jacket foundation at its yard in Vlissingen, the Netherlands. The project is described as the first time an offshore converter platform of this scale will be predominantly constructed in Germany.
The contract is expected to create more than 500 long-term jobs in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania through direct employment and supply chain activity.
Stefan Kapferer, CEO of 50Hertz, said: "As the transmission system operator for eastern Germany, Berlin and Hamburg, we are pleased that, in a transparent and open tendering process, a consortium was able to prevail both in terms of price and technology, and will manufacture key components at a shipyard within our grid area. This demonstrates that domestic shipyards are now capable of offering competitive bids for the construction of offshore platforms."
Tim Holt, Member of the Executive Board of Siemens Energy, said: "Expanding offshore grid connections is currently one of the most demanding tasks of the energy transition, especially at the pace now required. To help this, we have specifically expanded our capacities in Germany. Technology is only one piece of the puzzle — to ensure that our technologies can be deployed, we rely on strong partners in the maritime sector. We welcome the additional, much-needed capacity being created by Neptun Werft."
The award was also welcomed by the Stiftung Offshore-Windenergie (German Offshore Wind Foundation), which described the contract as a significant industrial policy signal and a success for Germany as an industrial location.
50Hertz has separately confirmed that it has entered into negotiations with NSORe for a second offshore converter platform of similar scale, linked to the North Sea Connector 1 project. If awarded, the onshore converter for that project would also be located at the Mühlenbeck grid point, and the combined value of the two projects for NSORe would reach approximately €2.5 billion (around USD 2.9 billion).
