APPOINTMENT OF CABLE COMPANY IS KEY TO DEVELOPING GERMANY'S OFFSHORE WIND FARMS

rysmian Group has been selected by transmission system operator Amprion as preferred bidder for the two offshore grid connection systems BalWin1 and BalWin2 and the underground cable project DC34. The agreement specifies an obligation on the parties to negotiate in good faith the outstanding items of the projects with a target for execution of the final contracts of 15 January 2024. Prysmian is committed to reserve the required production and installation capacity until the aforementioned date. The contracts are valued in aggregate at around €4.5 billion.

The three projects are part of the Germany’s overall plan to install 70 GW of offshore wind energy by 2045, and will support the transmission of the energy generated in the North Sea to load centres in the western and southern regions of the country.

 BalWin1 and BalWin2 will each transmit up to 2 GW of energy from the offshore wind farms BalWin Cluster to be located in the German North Sea to the grid connection points in Wehrendorf (Lower Saxony) and Westerkappeln (North Rhine-Westphalia), thus supporting the energy transition in the industrial heart of Germany. Each cable system will consist of two single-core ±525 kV HVDC copper cables with XLPE insulation for the submarine sections and P-Laser insulation for the land underground sections, plus a dedicated metallic return cable and a fibre optic cable. BalWin1 will utilise 1070 km of cables along a 358 km route, while BalWin2 will consist of 1100 km of cables over a route of 376 km.

DC34 (Number 82 of the Federal Requirement Plan Act) as part of the Rhein-Main-Link will instead connect the substation in 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. 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 need up to 2100 km of cables for this cross Germany route.