DNV says it will provide full approval services for the design, manufacture, installation and commissioning of the DolWin alpha converter station, which will be located around 60 km offshore close to the Dutch border in 27 m of water.

The offshore HVDC convertor station will have a topside weight of over 10, 000 tonnes.

“DNV has been developing standards and guidelines for wind turbine structures and components since 2001 and some of our most recent research to support the industry resulted in the development of safety standards for offshore substations and for marine operations when installing offshore wind farms,” says Frøydis Eldevik, Director of DNV Cleaner Energy Europe.

“We see the offshore wind industry as one where our risk management services add tremendous value as we are the world’s leading certification body in the wind industry and we have over 40 years of experience in offshore oil and gas constructions where issues such as access and transfer have considerable parallels.”

The TenneT project commenced in October and installation of the converter station is expected in the second half of 2012.