On 27 February Imtech Marine Netherlands signed a large HVAC contract with Heerema Fabrication Group (Zwijndrecht, Netherlands). Imtech Marine will provide the Offshore Wind Energy project HelWin2 with all Heating, Ventilation and Airconditioning (HVAC). It is one of the largest platforms built at this moment.

The platform connects an enormous wind park cluster in the German part of the North Sea. HelWin2 can provide some 500.000 homes in Germany with sustainable energy.

‘Imtech Marine is honored to be a partner in this offshore wind energy project’, says Sytze Voulon, Managing Director Imtech Marine in Northwest Europe. ‘The project fits perfectly in our company strategy. On the one hand, it is a sustainable development, which we support with innovative solutions, and it concerns an intensive, close partnership with Heerema. We support the project HelWin2 by providing efficient solutions, resulting in amongst others considerable savings in energy use and weight. We are ready and prepared to finish this enormous and complex project within the planning and within budget, innovation and flexibility being key factors.’

For Imtech Marine Netherlands it is the largest HVAC order ever acquired. In the platform, there is 4MW HVAC capacity available. The production equipment on board, which will produce considerable heat, has to be chilled, but can not be too cool. This requires ingenious air treatment. Imtech Marine NL will provide all areas incl. LIR’s (Local Instrument Rooms) and LER’s (Local Equipment Rooms) at the offshore platform with air treatment solutions. The high-tech air treatment will be provided via a.o. Air Handling Units (AHU’s) and Chillers (Cold Water Makers). Fancoil units in the spaces itself take care of local cooling or heating. The project is remarkable in size. The platform measures 98 by 42 meters, has 5 decks, is more than 27 meters high and weighs about 10.000 tons. The platform, in normal operation, is unmanned and works fully autonomous, while also being monitored from shore. Only for a disturbance or maintenance will people come on board. Also remarkable is the sustainable character of the platform, for which purpose Imtech partners with the customer to provide innovative, efficient solutions, aimed at saving energy and weight. The platform will be ready for operation in the summer of 2014.

The HelWin2 platform will be located close to Helgoland, 85 kilometers northwest of a cable landing point in Büsum, Germany. Heerema Zwijndrecht B.V. is the main contractor, who received the total order from Siemens Germany, on behalf of TenneT. The HelWin2 offshore platform converts alternating current of wind turbines to direct current, after which it is transported via subsea cables to land. In total the operations provides 690 MW of sustainable energy. Germany invests substantially in sustainable energy, amongst which wind energy, the aim being to close all nuclear power plants in Germany in 2022.