Iberdrola installs the converter station for its East Anglia THREE offshore wind farm, the Group's first with high-voltage direct current (HVDC) technology

Iberdrola, through its British subsidiary ScottishPower Renewables, has successfully completed the installation of the high-voltage direct current (HVDC) marine converter station at the East Anglia THREE wind farm, located some 69 kilometres off the coast of Suffolk in British waters in the North Sea.

The project, which will involve an investment of €5 billion, is the first of the Iberdrola Group's offshore wind farms to incorporate HVDC technology, the most efficient way to transport electricity over long distances.

This substation is a key element in the development of East Anglia THREE, Iberdrola's largest offshore wind farm in the world and one of the largest globally. Its function will be to transform the electricity generated by the farm's 95 turbines from high-voltage alternating current to direct current. With a capacity of 1,400 MW, when it comes into operation at the end of 2026, the farm will be capable of generating enough clean energy to supply more than 2.4 million people in the United Kingdom.

The structure installed is impressive: it weighs 10,700 tonnes and measures 70 metres long, 34 metres wide and 48 metres high. It is the largest module built to date by the Iberdrola Group. To give an idea of its size, the offshore converter station is similar in height to a 16-storey building and weighs 50% more than the Eiffel Tower.

The installation operation was a technical challenge, successfully executed thanks to the world's largest crane vessel, Heerema Marine Contractors' SSCV Sleipnir, which had already laid the project's offshore foundations last summer. The module was manufactured in Mangalia (Romania) in mid-2024 and, after travelling more than 3,800 nautical miles, arrived at the Aker Solutions shipyard in Stord (Norway) for final assembly.

The installation of this offshore converter station marks a milestone in the progress of the project and reflects the joint effort of the teams and suppliers to carry out a highly complex engineering project.