All inter-array cables in place at Germany’s 960 MW offshore wind farm

All inter-array cables have been installed at EnBW’s He Dreiht offshore wind farm in the German North Sea.

Seaway7 said on July 1 it completed the installation of the last inter-array cable, connecting the 13th and last string of the He Dreiht project to the BorWin epsilon converter platform, part of the BorWin5 grid connection.

The first cable was installed on March 10, with the vessels Seaway Aimery and Seaway Moxie laying and pulling all 64 cables since then.

Currently, Seaway Aimery is performing trenching of the last cables, while teams onboard Seaway Moxie are completing the stripping, routing and jointing works, according to Seaway7.

Seaway7 was awarded an engineering, procurement, installation, and commissioning (EPIC) contract for the inter-array cables on He Dreiht in 2022. The 66 kV subsea array cables are manufactured by JDR Cable Systems under a contract signed with Seaway7 the same year.

According to EnBW, with a total output of 960 MW, He Dreiht is Germany’s largest offshore wind farm currently under construction, and can produce enough electricity to supply the equivalent of 1.1 million households.

The offshore wind farm is currently in the wind turbine installation phase after the first of its 64 Vestas 15 MW turbines was installed earlier this year.

He Dreiht, owned by EnBW (50.1%) and a consortium made up of Allianz Capital Partners, AIP and Norges Bank Investment Management (49.9%), is expected to start operation in late 2025.