On behalf of EnBW, Seaway7 is installing the first of 64 submarine cables of the internal park cabling with a total length of 100 kilometers

Cable laying in the He Dreiht offshore wind farm (Source: Seaways7)

EnBW is laying the first submarine cable of the internal farm cabling that connects all 64 wind turbines of the He Dreiht offshore wind farm. The company Seaway7 has been commissioned with the work. Two installation vessels will lay and flush a total of approximately 100 kilometers of cable onto the North Sea seabed by the summer. The cables will then be pulled into the foundations of the wind turbines and connected. Cable manufacturer JDR manufactured the 66 kilovolt submarine cables in Great Britain.

The farm's internal cabling will later be connected to the converter platform of the transmission system operator TenneT, which is expected to be installed offshore this summer. There, the generated electricity will be bundled, converted from alternating current to direct current, and brought ashore via two high-voltage direct current export cables.

EnBW He Dreiht is currently the largest offshore wind farm in Germany, with a total capacity of 960 megawatts (MW). It is being built approximately 85 kilometers northwest of Borkum and 110 kilometers west of Heligoland and will operate without subsidies. The investment volume is approximately 2.4 billion euros. This major project is coordinated by EnBW's offshore office in Hamburg. At peak times, more than 500 people work on this major offshore construction site, and over 60 vessels are involved. The 64 foundations were installed last year. Starting in spring of this year, the latest generation of Vestas wind turbines, each with an output of 15 MW, will be installed. EnBW He Dreiht will theoretically cover the electricity needs of around 1.1 million households.

KeyFacts Energy Industry Directory: EnBW Energie