Prysmian has been chosen as preferred bidder for the BalWin1 and BalWin2 offshore grid connections and the underground cable project DC34, in Germany.
German transmission system operator (TSO) Amprion has awarded the preferred bidder agreement, which outlines an obligation on the parties to negotiate in good faith the outstanding items of the projects with a target to execute the final contracts by 15 January 2024.
Prysmian said it is committed to reserve the required production and installation capacity until the aforementioned date for the contracts, which are collectively worth around €4.5bn.
BalWin1 and BalWin2 will transmit each up to 2GW of energy from the future offshore wind farms to be located in the German North Sea BalWin Cluster to the grid connection points in Wehrendorf (Lower Saxony) and Westerkappeln (North Rhine-Westphalia).
The three projects are part of the Germany’s overall plan to install 70GW of offshore wind energy by 2045 and will support the transmission of the energy generated in the North Sea to consumers in the western and southern regions of the country.
“This agreement is a huge step towards realising these three important projects in time.
“Thus, the major components for our offshore projects are secured until 2030,” said Hendrik Neumann, CTO of Amprion.
Each cable system will consist of two single-core ±525kV HVDC copper cables with XLPE insulation for the submarine sections and P-Laser insulation for the land underground sections, plus a dedicated metallic return cable and a fibre optic cable.
BalWin1 will use 1070 km of cables along a 358 km route, whereas BalWin2 will use 1100 km of cables over a route of 376 km.
DC34 (Number 82 of the Federal Requirement Plan Act) as part of the Rhein-Main-Link will connect the substation in the area of Ovelgönne/Rastede/Wiefelstede/Westerstede (Lower Saxony) to a second substation in Bürstadt (Hesse) to transmit up to 2GW of energy produced by the offshore wind farms in the North Sea to consumers in the Rhine-Main metropolitan area.
The cable system will consist of two single-core ±525kV HVDC copper cables with P-Laser insulation, including a dedicated metallic return cable. DC34 will consist of up to 2100 km of cables for the cross Germany route.