If the weather conditions are right at sea, the first sea cable for the Hollandse Kust (west Beta) offshore wind farm will be retracted under the dunes near Velsen early next week, TenneT has revealed.
For this purpose, several ships will appear off the Dutch coast in the coming days, it said.
With the two electricity cables that will be installed in the beach and seabed in the coming weeks, TenneT will soon bring the energy from the offshore wind farm to land.
After the two successful drillings under the dunes, the conduits for the electricity cables are already in place.
The first cable will be brought from the sea to the beach from the Giant 7 installation pontoon next week.
For this purpose, there is already a 200-tonne winch on the work site on the beach that, in addition to the cable, also pulls the cable burying machine to the beach.
Project manager Robert Koen said: “After the cable has been brought ashore, it is pulled into the empty sleeve with a winch – which is located behind the dunes in the Sculpture Park.
“In the Sculpture Park, the three cores of the sea cable are connected in an underground socket with large terminal blocks to the electricity cables that have already been deployed on land.
“This is how the power comes out at our transformer station on Zeestraat in Wijk aan Zee.”
Immediately after retracting the first cable, contractor NBOS buries the first kilometers of the electricity cable in the beach and at sea.
Koens added: “The cables are laid at depth using the cofferdams on the beach.
“The Giant 7 then pulls the cable burial machine towards itself again over the seabed. Using powerful water jets, the machine then creates a slot in the seabed where the cable sinks. This slot then closes automatically.”
Once the first kilometres of cable have been buried, NBOS places the capped end on the seabed.
Then this whole operation is repeated for the second cable.
Koens said: “We cordoned off the beach twice a week before retracting the cables. Water sports at sea within a designated zone are also not permitted during these weeks.
“Once move-in has begun, work on the beach and at sea continues 24/7 until the job is completed.”