Amprion has secured planning permission for onshore portions of two German offshore wind grid connections, DolWin4 and BorWin4.
The planning approval decisions are for large parts of the land route of DolWin4 and BorWin4.
In addition, the decision for BorWin4 in the area of the Exclusive Economic Zone has also been issued.
Amprion expects civil engineering work on land to begin in the first half of 2024.
“We are at the home stretch of the approval of our first two offshore projects.
“We move from planning to building and are confident to be able to put BorWin4 into operation a year earlier than planned,” said Eric Zieschang, overall project manager at Amprion.
BorWin4 was originally scheduled to go into operation in 2029.
Amprion announced in 2022 that implementation would be extended by one year to accelerate DolWin4 and BorWin4 and both will enter operation in 2028.
The connection includes export cables that will pass under the island of Norderney to reach the coastal area of Hilgenriedersiel.
From there they continue as an underground cable towards the substation in Lingen (Ems), to be connected to the transmission network.
Amprion is connecting the BorWin4 offshore grid connection to offshore wind farms in area six of the North Sea, in the so-called exclusive economic zone, which is the responsibility of the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH).
After about a year of proceedings, the BSH decided to awarded planning approval for the approximately 90 km long submarine cable system and the BorWin delta converter platform.
Amprion project manager Michael Cieslawski said: “We have been working toward this goal for many years worked towards this and maintained intensive exchanges with the authorities.”
Amprion must comply with the additional provisions issued in the plan approval decision.
The Lower Saxony State Authority for Road Construction and Transport has granted planning approval for the northern land sections (coast to Emden) and south (Wietmarschen to Lingen) for DolWin4 and BorWin4.