Every offshore wind park has its own cable design. For the 269-megawatt Deutsche Bucht offshore wind farm, Van Oord’s cable laying vessel Nexus has installed a smart web of inter array cables at forty metres water depth. A remote-controlled trencher will now bury the cables.

The inter array grid forms the connection between the turbines and the offshore substation and enables dispatch and transfer of electricity to the mainland. The vessel installed at a rate of up to three cables per 24 hours. In total, more than forty kilometres of inter array cables have been installed.

Remote-controlled Trencher

To protect the cables, Van Oord’s trencher Dig-It has now been deployed to bury the previously laid cables to the required depth of 1.5 metres below the seabed. The remote-controlled trencher uses the jetting module. By injecting a high water flow, the soil is liquified enabling lowering of the cable.

First 8.4 MW Turbine Already Installed

In the meantime, Van Oord’s offshore installation vessel Aeolus started turbine installation. Each turbine has three eighty-metre rotor blades and a rated output of 8.4 megawatts. Commissioning of the wind farm is expected to take place in the second half of 2019.

About Deutsche Bucht

The Deutsche Bucht wind farm, owned by Canada-based independent power producer Northland Power, will supply enough renewable energy to meet the needs of approximately 328,000 households per year. The wind farm is located in the North Sea, more than 100 kilometres from the mainland in the German Exclusive Economic Zone. 

As the Balance of Plant contractor for the Deutsche Bucht offshore wind farm, Van Oord is responsible for the design, engineering, procurement, construction and installation of the foundations, inter array cables and offshore substation, and the transport of the wind turbines. 

Picture: The Nexus laying cables at Deutsche Bucht offshore wind farm.