The inter-array cable installation campaign at the Nordseecluster A offshore wind farm in Germany has been completed, with 48 cables laid, buried, terminated, and tested.
“Cables rarely draw the attention that foundations, substations, or turbines do. Yet this package – laying, burial, termination, testing – is one of the most coordination-intensive scopes of any offshore wind farm: four vessels, more than 200 people, parallel works running across the site every day”, Tobias Keitel , Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of RWE Offshore Wind GmbH, said via social media.
Approximately 185 kilometres of 66 kV aluminium and copper conductor cables, supplied by Hellenic Cables and installed by DeepOcean , connect the wind farm’s turbines with two offshore substations at the Nordseecluster A site, whose installation was completed earlier this year.
At the end of last year, Jan De Nul installed three HVAC subsea cables delivered by Hellenic Cables between TenneT’s offshore converter station, DolWin kappa, and the Nordseecluster 1 and 2 sites that house the Nordseecluster A offshore substations.
The first wind turbine was installed at the project site this month, with the installation being carried out by DEME’s vessel Norse Wind , which is capable of transporting and installing up to five turbine sets per cycle.
The 660 MW Nordseecluster A will comprise 44 Vestas 15 MW wind turbines, all of which are expected to be installed by the end of 2026. The offshore wind farm, which is the first phase of the 1.6 GW Nordseecluster development, is expected to be fully commissioned in early 2027.
The second phase, Nordseecluster B, will add a further 900 MW of capacity, bringing the total project size to 1.6 GW. Foundation installation at the second site is scheduled to begin next year, followed by the installation of 60 Vestas 15 MW turbines in 2028.
Nordseecluster B is expected to reach commercial operation in early 2029.
The 1.6 GW Nordseecluster, located around 50 kilometres north of the island of Juist, is jointly owned by RWE (51 per cent) and Norges Bank Investment Management (49 per cent), with RWE responsible for construction and long-term operation across the full lifecycle.