Prysmian Wins Preferred Bidder Status for Transmission Cable Projects Offshore Germany

August 22, 2023, by Adnan Memija

Italy-headquartered Prysmian Group has been selected by the transmission system operator (TSO) Amprion as the preferred bidder for the BalWin1 and BalWin2 offshore grid connection systems and the underground cable project DC34 in Germany.

The final contracts are planned to be signed by 15 January 2024 and they are valued in aggregate at around EUR 4.5 billion.

BalWin1 and BalWin2 will transmit each up to 2 GW of energy from the future offshore wind farms to be located in the German North Sea BalWin cluster to the grid connection points in Wehrendorf (Lower Saxony) and Westerkappeln (North Rhine-Westphalia).

Each cable system will consist of two single-core ±525 kV HVDC copper cables with XLPE insulation for the subsea sections and P-Laser insulation for the land underground sections, as well as a dedicated metallic return cable and a fibre optic cable.

BalWin1, previously known as LanWin1, will utilise approximately 1,070 km of cables along a 358 km route, whereas BalWin2, previously known as LanWin3, will use about 1,100 km of cables over a route of 376 km.

BalWin1 offshore grid connection is planned to be put into operation as early as 2029 and BalWin2 as early as 2030.

German Offshore Grid Connections to Come Online Earlier Than Planned

Grid Connection

At the beginning of this year, Amprion awarded Siemens Energy and Dragados Offshore a EUR 4 billion contract to build converter stations for the two offshore grid connection systems.

DC34 (number 82 of the Federal Requirement Plan Act), as part of the Rhein-Main-Link, will connect the substation in the area of Ovelgönne/Rastede/Wiefelstede/Westerstede (Lower Saxony) to a second substation in Bürstadt (Hesse) to transmit up to 2 GW of energy produced by the offshore wind farms in the North Sea to consumers in the Rhine-Main metropolitan area, said Prysmian.

The cable system will consist of two single-core ±525 kV HVDC copper cables with P-Laser insulation, including a dedicated metallic return cable. DC34 will feature up to 2,100 km of cables for this cross-Germany route.

The three projects are part of Germany’s overall plan to install 70 GW of offshore wind energy by 2045.

“This agreement is a huge step towards realizing these three important projects in time. Thus, the major components for our offshore projects are secured until 2030,” said Hendrik Neumann, CTO of Amprion.

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In August 2022, Fraunhofer IWES research institute published a new study saying that Germany has the potential to have 82 GW of offshore wind capacity installed by 2045.

With strategies for a more efficient use of available space and tapping into additional capacity with new offshore wind technologies, the country can increase the total potential of installed offshore wind capacity until 2045 to 82 GW, according to the study.