RWE has appointed DeepOcean as preferred supplier of subsea installation services for the Nordseecluster A offshore wind development off the German coast.
The development combines four wind farm sites in the eastern part of the German North Sea into a 1.6GW project, consisting of a minimum of 104 wind turbines.
In early 2029, once all four wind farms are in operation, the machines will be able to produce enough green electricity each year to supply 1.6m German households.
The development will be constructed in two phases. The two wind farms (N-3.8 and N-3.7) of Nordseecluster A with a combined capacity of 660MW are in the permit application phase. Two further sites (N-3.6 and N-3.5) of the second phase (Nordseecluster B) will add an additional 900MW.
Under the agreement, ocean services provider DeepOcean will take charge of preparatory work, transport and installations of all inter-array cables, including trenching, topside pull-ins and terminations for the initial build-out phase.
The company will install 185km of 66kV aluminium and copper cables, starting with connecting all 44 offshore wind turbines of Nordseecluster A.
“This is a major contract for us. We have supported RWE in the past and we will apply decades of experience from similar subsea work to deliver the Nordseecluster in line with RWE’s high quality requirements,” said offshore renewables director at DeepOcean Normann Vikse.
“We will take charge of a large work scope, which will allow us to secure the best possible project design and exploit operational synergies and costs-efficiencies between the various work packages.”
DeepOcean’s scope of work includes project management and engineering; offshore preparation work including pre-installation cable route survey, route engineering and burial assessment, offshore trenching, boulder relocation, foundation preparatory work and offshore substation preparatory work; transport and installation of inter-array cables including burial, pull-in, monitoring and testing; as well as seabed surveys and monitoring.
“We are delighted to have signed with DeepOcean as the last main supplier to install the cables for Nordseecluster A,” said the project’s managing director Sven Schulemann.
“This is a further important step towards implementing this large-scale project. We are confirmed that DeepOcean is the right partner for us.”
DeepOcean has not disclosed the value of the contract, which is subject to final investment decisions (FID) by RWE. Upon FID, the company will mobilise a complete engineering, project management and planning team that will support RWE.
In addition, DeepOcean will provide three vessels for installation, trenching and walk to work – on site to deliver the offshore tasks. The offshore installation duties for Nordseecluster A are likely to be executed in 2026.
“We are very excited about supporting RWE’s plans for the Nordseecluster, where the merger of the four sites offers attractive economies of scale and allows the supply chain to reliably plan and leverage synergies,” said DeepOcean chief executive Øyvind Mikaelsen.
“Awarding the contract for the initial phase with the opportunity to provide our services for Nordseecluster B will allow us to significantly reduce project execution risk. This is a risk-reducing measure that will benefit both RWE and us suppliers.”