Amprion hands in papers for German offshore grid links

Amprion Offshore has submitted the documents for the public planning procedure for the Exclusive Economic Zone section of the DolWin4 and BorWin4 offshore grid connection systems in Germany.

The application documents contain a pre-design of the planned platforms and take into account the installation of submarine cables and the erection of the platforms in the immediate vicinity of the wind farms set to be connected.

The Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) is now checking the documents for completeness.

Once the completeness has been certified, the competent authority is expected to initiate the public planning procedure at the end of the summer.

With the early submission of the application documents, Amprion hopes to receive the public planning approval decisions before the large platforms and cables are awarded.

“Over the past two years, our experienced planners have dealt extensively with special requirements regarding nature conservation, shipping and fishing in the EEZ,” said Mario Bechmann, Project Manager at Amprion. “In addition, we have coordinated closely with the authorities and other public agencies. I am sure that we have presented a good result.”

Cable installation is expected to begin in 2025, while the 900 MW DolWin4 and the 900 MW BorWin4 systems are respectively planned to be commissioned in 2028 and 2029.

The two systems will be connected to the Amprion grid in Lingen, a town in southwestern Lower Saxony. The cables will cross the island of Norderney and reach the mainland in the coastal town Hagermarsch.

From there, they run for around 155 km as underground cables towards the Hanekenfähr substation in Lingen (Ems), where Amprion will connect them to its transmission network.