Ørsted and Van Oord have completed installation of the 94 array cables connecting the turbines of the Borssele I & II offshore wind farm 23 kilometers off the coast of the Dutch province of Zeeland. The installation started, ahead of schedule, in February this year.
 

The cables were installed by Van Oord’s cable-laying vessel Nexus. Next month, the companies also expect to finalise the cable burial campaign with Van Oord’s trencher Dig-It. The 94 cables were fabricated by Nexans.

‘The installation of the cables went very well,’ says Arjan Dirkmaat, Project Manager Van Oord. ‘The innovations initiated prior to the works paid out in high quality productions, setting a new standard for Van Oord’s cable installation works. I am proud of the project team, the vessel crews, suppliers and our riggers. They are the key to our success and delivered yet another cable installation project to our partner Ørsted ahead of time.’

Borssele

Borssele I & II will have a capacity of 752 megawatts. The 94 8-megawatt Siemens Gamesa turbines are placed in water depths ranging from 14 to 36 metres.

‘We are now approaching the last phase of the installation of Borssele I & II. Even with our stringent COVID-19 measures, we are still well on track to complete the installation before the end of the year,’ adds Kunuk Rosing, Project Manager Ørsted for the electrical project execution. ‘The cable installation scope was a good example of our excellent relationship with the neighbouring windfarm of Borssele III & IV, under construction by the Blauwwind consortium. It is not often that different companies successfully share cable installation vessels across different projects.’