Vattenfall issues inter-array cable contract notice for German offshore wind farms

Vattenfall Atlantis 1 and Global Tech II Offshore Wind GmbH have issued a contract notice seeking contractors to install inter-array cables for two wind farm projects offshore Germany.

The two projects, Vattenfall Atlantis 1 and Global Tech II, are located in the German North Sea, in the N-7.2 and N-6.6 zones.

The contract is expected to be carried out between July 2023 and December 2028 and does not come with extension options.

Interested parties have until 26 December this year to respond to the contract notice.

The 584 MW Atlantis 1 wind farm is located approximately 84 kilometres off the island of Borkum in north-westerly direction. Vattenfall acquired the project from PNE Wind AG in early 2017.

A year earlier, Vattenfall acquired Northern Energy Global Tech II, the developer of up to 79-turbine Global Tech II project.

The Swedish energy company participated with these two projects, alongside the Sandbank 2 project, in the auction organised by the German government in 2017 but was unsuccessful.

However, Vattenfall did secure the step-in rights for the N-7.2 area through this auction. The N-7.2 zone was put out to tender this February and the developer exercised its step-in rights in September after RWE won the tender with a zero-subsidy bid.

Germany plans to put out to tender around 1.9 GW of offshore wind capacity throughout 2022 and 2023, including the N-7.2 area.

The N-6.6 area is expected to support a capacity of up to 630 MW and is located some 100 kilometres northwest of the island of Borkum.

N-6.6, together with N-6.7, is expected to be put out to tender in September 2024 and into operation in 2029.