Germany: NSW to Deliver and Install Submarine Cables on Meerwind Offshore Wind Farm

On July 8, 2011 WindMW GmbH and Norddeutsche Seekabelwerke GmbH (NSW) signed a contract for the delivery and installation of 108 km medium-voltage submarine cables for the inter-array cabling of the wind farm project Meerwind. With the installation scheduled to start in the second half of 2012, completion is planned in 2013.

The project Meerwind consists of the two offshore wind farms Meerwind Süd and Meerwind Ost which are located 23 km north of the island Helgoland in the North Sea. It is planned to use the island as maintenance base. Both wind farms together will be able to generate 288 MW.

For the connection of a total of 80 turbines, NSW will produce 88 cable sections. The installation of the cables in water depths of 22 to 26 meters will be carried out using NOSTAG 10, a barge specially designed for cable-laying, which the company has already used successfully in comparable projects. NOSTAG 10 is owned by a consortium of NSW, Hans Schramm & Sohn GmbH & Co. KG and Tiefbau-GmbH “Unterweser” (TAGU).

For the simultaneous and therefore secure lay and burial process of the cables up to 1,5 meters into the soil, NSW is using the well-proven technology of the vertical injector, which has already been deployed for Helgoland’s connection to the German shore.

Jens Assheuer, Managing Director WindMW: „The assignment of the cable delivery and installation is a further step towards the successful realisation of the project. We are happy to have won with NSW another reliable and experienced supplier of the region for the construction.”

Thorsten Schwarz, Managing Director NSW: „As a neighbouring company in the Wesermarsch region we are particularly proud of having convinced the customer with our turnkey offer for supply and delivery of array cables and of our capability even in an international comparison and thus having secured jobs in the German offshore wind industry for the region. The proximity to the harbour of Helgoland presents the unique opportunity for using the installation solution NOSTAG 10 plus vertical injector, which has already been successfully used in this sea area.”

Additional information about the companies

The company WindMW GmbH, located in Bremerhaven, is a joint venture of the Blackstone Group and the Windland Energieerzeugungs GmbH. Responsible for the realisation and operation, WindMW GmbH is actively planning the construction, the start-up and operation of the offshore wind farm Meerwind, in order to provide the offshore wind energy in Germany efficiently and promptly.

With the start of construction by the end of 2012 and the start of operation by the end of 2013, Meerwind will be the first German offshore wind farm which has been build and operated by a private investor.

The General Cable Corporation  is one of the Fortune 500 companies, a world leader when it comes to developing, designing manufacturing, marketing and selling copper, aluminum and glass-fiber cables plus products in the energy, industrial and telecommunication sectors.

Norddeutsche Seekabelwerke GmbH (NSW) has been a wholly owned subsidiary of General Cable since 2007, and for more than 111 years one of the world’s leading vendors of submarine telecommunication cables. After being founded back in 1899, NSW was already laying its first submarine telecommunication cable in 1904, approximately 7,993 kilometers in length. With more than 500 staff, NSW advises and supports its customers from all over the world.

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Source: nsw , July 12, 2011;