Boskalis, Orient Cable to link Hollandse Kust West Beta with Dutch grid

TenneT has awarded a consortium between Boskalis and Orient Cable (NBO) a contract for the Hollandse Kust West Beta export cable, which will connect the 700 MW offshore platform to TenneT’s onshore grid in the Netherlands.

The contract scope comprises the supply and installation of two 65-kilometre-long 220kV export cables and a 9-kilometre-long 66 kV interconnector cable between the Hollandse Kust West Alpha and Hollandse Kust West Beta offshore substations.

For this project, Boskalis will also deliver the removal of unexploded ordnance (UXO) from the seabed, geotechnical and geophysical surveys, beach and seabed preparation works, along with the laying and burial of the cables.

The value of the contract has not been disclosed; however, Boskalis said the value of this contract for the company is considered to be ‘sizable’.

As reported last year, TenneT opened a tender for the supply and installation of the export cables for the Hollandse Kust West beta platform in February 2021, after pre-qualifying applicants.

In the tender, TenneT specifically requested the applicants to reduce nitrogen emissions (NOx) during the work. In the tendering process, tenderers had to include a calculation model of how their installation method would remain below the NOx emission threshold.

The two 220 kV AC export cables for Hollandse Kust West beta will come ashore near the existing onshore high voltage substation at Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands, where the electricity produced by offshore wind farms from the Hollandse Kust West area will feed into the national grid.

The Beta platform is one of the two that will connect the wind farms from the Hollandse Kust West area in the North Sea to the grid on land, the other being Hollandse Kust West Alpha.

The 700 MW Hollandse Kust West Beta will enter operation in 2025, a year after the Alpha platform is put into service.

The export cables for Hollandse Kust West Alpha will be supplied by LS Cable & System and installed by Jan De Nul.