Berlin, Apr 21 (IANS): A 7 billion euro deal to connect offshore wind farms in the North Sea to the German energy grid has been signed by Siemens Energy and Spain's Dragados Offshore, the two companies announced.

Siemens and Dragados have signed a framework agreement with the German-Dutch transmission system operator TenneT to supply high-voltage direct current transmission technology for three grid connections, reports Xinhua news agency.

The agreement ensures that a total of 6 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind power can be transported onshore, Siemens added.

"In the global race against climate change, grid expansion must be able to keep pace with the accelerated expansion targets for renewable energies," said Tim Holt, a member of Siemens Energy's executive board.

The three grid connections will transport electricity from wind farms in the German North Sea to grid connection points in northern parts of the country. Each of the systems has a transmission capacity of two gigawatts, Siemens said.

At the end of March, TenneT awarded 11 contracts for the connection of North Sea wind farms to consortia led by Hitachi Energy and General Electric.

Along with the three new contracts, these are now worth a total of around 30 billion euros.

To achieve the European goal of an independent renewable energy supply, the North Sea must be developed as the bloc's "green power plant", and quickly connected to onshore power grids, TenneT COO Tim Meyerjuergens said.