50Hertz awards Rostock shipyard €2.5 billion contract for North Sea wind converter platform

The contract and consortium

German transmission system operator 50Hertz awarded the order for the North Sea Connector 2 grid link to a consortium of Siemens Energy and Neptun Smulders Offshore Renewables (NSORe). It covers one offshore converter platform and an onshore station, both built to the new 2‑gigawatt standard. A second identical system is being negotiated with the same consortium. If finalised, the two projects together would amount to roughly 2.5 billion euros for NSORe, with the bulk of value creation staying in Germany.

“It proves that domestic shipyards can now submit competitive bids for building offshore platforms.”

Where it will be built

The main construction and assembly will take place at the Neptun Werft in Rostock‑Warnemünde, which is part of the Meyer Werft group. NSORe is a joint venture between the Rostock yard and the Belgian steel company Smulders, founded in 2023 for this type of work. Siemens Energy will equip the platform with transmission technology (transformers, switchgear, converters) mostly made in its German factories. The offshore platform will be installed roughly 200 kilometres west of the island of Sylt; the land‑based converter station is planned for a new substation near Mühlenbeck, close to Schwerin.

Jobs and economic impact

Mecklenburg‑Vorpommern stands to gain significantly. According to NDR, up to 500 collectively bargained jobs could be created at the Neptun yard and another 500 positions at suppliers. Other reports say at least 500 new jobs will emerge across the companies and their supply chains in the region. The contract also gives a crucial boost to the Meyer Werft group, which has been restructuring since the federal and state governments became shareholders in 2024 to avert insolvency.

“The order confirms our strategic decision to purposefully develop our business model in the direction of offshore energy infrastructure.”

Political praise

Federal Economy Minister Katherina Reiche called the award an encouraging signal for German industry. Mecklenburg‑Vorpommern's Minister‑President Manuela Schwesig spoke of a great day for her state. Lower Saxony's Minister‑President Olaf Lies, whose state is home to the Meyer Werft headquarters, stressed that the contract opens an additional business field for the shipyard and helps stabilise its finances.

“Against the backdrop of a changed geopolitical environment and growing trade conflicts, it has become clear how important resilient supply chains and technological sovereignty are.”

Technology and timeline

Converter platforms turn the alternating current produced by offshore wind farms into direct current, allowing long‑distance transmission with much lower losses. Once on shore, the power is converted back to AC and fed into the grid. The new 2 GW platform is comparable in size to an oil rig and can supply the equivalent of around two million households. Commissioning of North Sea Connector 2 is scheduled for the end of 2034. The push to expand North Sea wind capacity was reaffirmed at a Hamburg summit in January 2026, where northern European nations pledged to build an additional 100 GW of offshore turbines, partly to reduce dependency on foreign energy suppliers amid tensions with Russia and uncertainty over transatlantic ties.