S T E E L I S T H E V I TA L

INGREDIENT
Solutions in Steel for O ffshore Wind Energy I nstallations
 OFFSHORE WINDPOWER –
THE ENERGY OF THE FUTURE

High waves, turbulent weather. The world's oceans are brim full
with energy. The high wind velocities constantly prevailing there, in
particular, contain a highly promising energy potential. For numerous
European countries, the expansion of the offshore wind energy gen-
eration is therefore the most important element in future energy con-
cepts. The success of this energy source is dependent to a very large
extent on stable and highly durable offshore wind tower foundations
that are able to defy the hostile conditions encountered far out to sea.

Heavy plate: The backbone of the Dillinger: The industry's partner jects completed up to now have been
regenerative energy for dependable solutions based, irrespective of the type of steel
foundation, on plate supplied by
Steel's high specific load bearing ca- Wind energy installations need stable Dillinger.
pability and durability, combined foundations to withstand the conditions
with its versatility, make it the mate- found in deeper waters. Equally, de- Tailor-made ultra high quality
rial of choice for these offshore foun- pendable partners are needed to assure plate solutions
dations. Its role in the generation of trouble free completion of major pro-
renewable energy achieves dual sus- jects. Dillinger, with its broad range of Plate thicknesses ranging from 6 to
tainable use of resources, since steel, tailor-made products, is precisely this over 510 mm, widths of up to 5,200 mm
with its excellent recyclability, is in reliable partner: even high tonnages can and lengths of up to 28 m, with item
itself a resources conserving material. be supplied in extremely short times. It weights exceeding 42 t – these are the
is therefore no coincidence that the ma- sizes in which Dillinger can produce
jority of the offshore wind energy pro- and supply its world leading grades
of steel. But it is not only these
unique dimensions, but also, and
above all, the "inner" values and good
working properties which give
m
in m

Dillinger heavy plate its outstanding

idth

reputation. Excellent weldability, as-

ew

surance of maximum strength and

Pl at

toughness performance at low tem-

peratures may be mentioned here
only as examples of the special,
tailor-made customer requirements
that Dillinger plate makes possible.
Plate thickness in mm

World record for Dillinger TM plates

Thermomechanically rolled plate (TM) has become particularly well established in offshore applications since, in
addition to an optimum combination of the mechanical properties of strength and toughness, it also assures, thanks
to its low carbon equivalent, significantly superior conditions for welding (e.g. the reduction of preheating tempera-
tures or even the elimination of preheating). Here Dillinger sets again new standards, with available plate thick-
nesses up to 150 mm and item weights exceeding 42 t.

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 World record for Dillinger TM plates

Convincing customer support Reliability

Technical and commercial boundary Multiple investments like chamfering tion by means of milling, assuring
conditions can be fixed jointly with milling machines, extension of the extra cost effectiveness of welding
the customer and the project partici- flame cutting capacity and especially for the customer. Edge machining is
pants at the early stages of a project, the project of superlatives, the new possible both on rectangular format
assuring availability of the necessary vertical continuous caster (CC6), plates and on radius and conical
capacities, maximum logistical sup- have conditioned Dillinger to the plates. The most diverse range of
port and thus trouble free implementa- future. This consistent orientation edge geometries, even including ta-
tion. Top solutions in steel, achieved around the production of thick heavy pers in the dimension range up to
equitably with the customer – this is plates in both rolling mills gives 160 mm thickness, 5,000 mm width
the proud record of Dillinger. Dillinger the ability to supply large and 25 m length, can be milled with
quantities of plate on time and within ultra high accuracy. Tolerances of
narrow time win­dows. Maximum de- ±1 mm are achieved in length and
Pure dependability livery reliability and logistical sup- width, ±0.5 mm for edge position
port for the customer are our constant and ±0.5° for the milled angle. The
Maximum quality and safety specifi- top priority. The successful comple- sandwich configuration of the mill-
cations that our customers can rely tion of many extremely diverse major ing tools, in combination with an
on: this is the challenge we set our- projects provides the definitive proof. automated tool changing system, as-
selves every day. Dillinger has proven sures the necessary flexibility for
its capability for meeting these maxi- individual edge geometries. The
mum dependability standards through- Service Plus: Edge preparation plates are shipped with an individual
out its many years of experience in marking including barcode. Just-in-
sensitive offshore oil and gas pro- An additional service provided by time delivery of edge machined
jects. Dillinger is individual weld prepara- plates is also possible on agreement.

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DILLINGER: THE STANDARD IN
OFFSHORE WIND FARMS

Gemini

With the offshore wind farm with an overall output of 600 MW. It going to the limits of what was feasi-
Gemini, which went into operation in is therefore currently among the most ble at that time. Meanwhile,
2017, one of the largest offshore wind powerful wind farms in the world and Dillinger can even supply these steels
farms in the world has its foundations can supply over 400,000 households with individual plate weights exceeding
on steel from Dillinger. in the Netherlands with electricity. 42 t and is thus at the leading edge of
Gemini (twins) stands for two sea The turbines are based on monopiles this technology worldwide.
areas in which the wind farm was that are up to 73 m in length and up to
erected in water depths up to 36 m. 7 m in diameter. Dillinger supplied Baltic 2
With its site around 85 km north of the around 94,500 t of TM plates in thick-
coast of the province of Groningen, it nesses up to 95 mm for these steel The offshore wind farm, officially in-
is located in one of the windiest areas foundations. With individual plate augurated in September 2015, is able
off the Dutch coast. The Gemini wind weights up to 32 t, this gigantic pro- to generate 1.2 TWh of electricity a
farm stretches over 68 km² and com- ject made full use of Dillinger's huge year, sufficient to supply approxi-
prises a total of 150 wind turbines production possibilities for TM plates, mately 200,000 German households
with eco friendly electricity. So it
makes a decisive contribution to save
over 400,000 t of CO2 every year.
With its 80 Siemens SWT-3.6-120
turbines erected in the waves of the
Baltic Sea, the wind farm covers an
area of almost 27 km2, making it the
largest offshore wind farm in the
Baltic Sea area. The wind turbines ris-
ing 138 m above the surface of the
water are almost as tall as the Cheops
Pyramid in Giza. Its location in the
German Exclusive Economic Zone
(EEZ), 32 km north of the island
© Geminiwindpark.nl © EnBW AG
Rügen, with variing water depths bet-
ween 23 and 44 m and difficult soil
conditions presented a new challenge
for the wind farm developers. Finally,
depending on the water depth, the
wind turbines have been erected on
different foundations. Monopiles have
been used for water depths up to 35 m,
while three legged jackets have been
utilized at depths over 35 m. For the
monopile and jacket foundations
Dillinger supplied around 37,700 t of
TM plates (S355ML, S420ML,
S355G10+M) in thicknesses from 20
© Bladt Industries © Geminiwindpark.nl to 85 mm.

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 © Vattenfall / DanTysk Offshore Wind

DanTysk

The farm's close proximity to the Da- save some 400,000 t of CO2, an foundations are really gigantic: diam-
nish border gave rise to the facility amount equivalent to a 2.7 billion re- eter up to 6 m, length up to 65 m and
name; it consists of the Danish words duction in car kilometers – a distance weigth up to 950 t. For these monopile
"Dan" for Danmark and "Tysk" for that is nearly 70 times the equator's foundations Dillinger supplied around
Tyskland ("Germany" in Danish) and circumference. Thus, the wind farm 65,000 t of TM plates in thicknesses
thus underlines the unifying and contributes significantly to the reduc- from 60 to 126 mm.
crossborder nature of this project. Its tion of CO2 emissions and thereby to
giant wind turbines are erected on the German "Energiewende". Transformer substation: Dillinger
steel foundations in water depths from steel converts
21 to 25 m, about 70 km west of the Steel giants Heavy plates from Dillinger have also
island of Sylt, in the EEZ. Covering "Almost the size of the Cologne Ca- been used for the construction of the
an area of 70 km2 (approximately thedral (150 m over the North Sea), transformer substation (1,350 t TM
7,000 football pitches), it's one of the rotor blades (diameter of 120 m) of plates in thicknesses from 8 to
first large scale offshore wind farms "the size of one-and-a-half soccer 65 mm). Set up in a water depth of
ever built in the German North Sea. fields", foundation piles diameter 25 m, this substation with a total
DanTysk consists of 80 wind towers, "only half a meter less than the tunnel weight of 3,200 t collects the energy
each carrying a Siemens SWT 3.6 MW diameter of the new underground rail- from the 80 wind farm turbines, con-
turbine, for a total output of 288 MW. way line U4 in Hamburg",… these verts it to a higher voltage and sends it
The energy generated is sufficient to mostly used comparisons reveal a lot to a power transfer station. From there
provide up to 200,000 homes with en- about the magnitude of these facili- a 205 km long underwater cable car-
vironment friendly electricity and to ties. The dimensions of the monopile ries the electricity to the consumers.

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 © Aarsleff Bilfinger Berger Joint Venture

London Array

London Array is located in the outer of Britain's ambitious climate targets, 120 m. The wind turbines are mounted
Thames Estuary, around 20 km off the enabling the United Kingdom to take a on monopile foundations of diameters
coasts of Kent and Essex. London great step forward in reducing CO2 from 4.7 to 5.7 m in water depths of up
Array consists of 175 wind towers, emissions. London Array should help to 25 m. These foundations, which
each carrying a 3.6 MW turbine, for a reduce harmful CO2 emissions by have a total length up to 85 m and a
total output of 630 MW. The energy more than 900,000 t a year, equivalent weight up to 650 t, are among the larg-
generated is sufficient to supply up to to taking nearly 300,000 cars off the est ever built. Dillinger supplied for
500,000 private households with elec- road each year. The dimensions of the these monopile foundations around
tricity from wind power. According to wind turbines are gigantic. The total 54,000 t of, essentially TM plates in
the operator, this wind farm will con- height up to the blade tip is nearly thicknesses up to 100 mm.
tribute significantly to the attainment 150 m, the rotor diameter is

© Aarsleff Bilfinger Berger Joint Venture © Aarsleff Bilfinger Berger Joint Venture

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 © EWE

Alpha Ventus, the world's first

high seas wind farm

The Alpha Ventus pilot project is the turbines stands each on three legged some 320 t. This wind farm consumed
world's first offshore wind farm to ad- foundations (tripods) with edge 12,800 t of steel supplied by Dillinger
vance into waters of depths of 30 m lengths of nearly 25 m. Some 1,000 t (S355G8+N/M and S355K2+N in thick-
and more. Since completion, it has of steel were used for the tripod, feet, nesses up to 110 mm).
supplied important knowledge needed tower and nacelle of each turbine. The
for the further expansion of offshore other six REpower 5M wind turbines
wind energy. The farm features 12 were installed to the north, on jacket
wind turbines of the 5 MW class. The foundations. The jacket foundation is
southern group of Areva Wind M5000 around 57 m in height, with a mass of

© Sif Group bv © EWE

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 Contact
For your local representative please
contact our coordination office in Dillingen:

Telephone: + (49) 6831/47 3456

Telefax: + (49) 6831/47992146

or visit our website:

http://www.dillinger.de/kontakt

AG der Dillinger Hüttenwerke

P.O. Box 1580 · 66748 Dillingen/Saar · Germany
Telephone: + (49) 6831/47 34 61 · Telefax: + (49) 6831/47 30 89
E-Mail: [email protected] · http://www.dillinger.de

Photos: Cover page and last page: © Aarsleff Bilfinger Berger Joint Venture / Edition 04/2018