Jan De Nul and LS Cable to wire Dutch offshore wind farms

TenneT has awarded the consortium of Jan De Nul Group and LS Cable & System the contracts for the supply and installation of high voltage cables for the grid connection of the Hollandse Kust Noord and West Alpha offshore wind farms.

Jan De Nul Group will take care of the transportation, laying, and protection of the cables that will be designed and manufactured by LS Cable & System. Offshore execution will take place in 2022-23.

Dick Lagerweij, Project Director HKN/HKWa TenneT Offshore, said: “Since Q3 2018 TenneT has prepared the project documents for offshore cable installation. Five bidders were qualified to submit their proposals and early 2020 we concluded that the consortium was best placed to win this contract. We are aiming for completion of the project as a whole by 2023, and the offshore cable installation including beach works and termination to the platforms is a vital part of the project. We are much looking forward to a positive cooperation.”

The Hollandse Kust Noord and Hollandse Kust West Alpha export cable systems will consist of two 220 kV AC cable systems each. These four cable systems will cover a total length of 210 kilometres, connecting the wind farms to the onshore Dutch power grid near Beverwijk, just north of the port of IJmuiden.

When operational, these wind farms will have a capacity of up to 1,400 MW.

“Our versatile offshore installation vessels are ideally suited to bring this project to a successful conclusion,” Philippe Hutse, Offshore Director at Jan De Nul Group, said.

Thanks to its very large carrying capacity, our Cable Lay Vessel Isaac Newton will load the cables in Korea and transport them to the Netherlands for installation with a minimum number of offshore joints. Our Multi-Purpose Support Vessel Adhémar de Saint-Venant will execute the post-lay trenching works and the rock protection works at the subsea crossing locations.”

The zero-subsidy tender for the development of the Hollandse Kust Noord offshore wind farm is ongoing and is expected to close on 30 April. The wind farm is scheduled to be operational in 2023. The Hollandse Kust West Alpha is slated to come online in 2024.