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Cabling starts at Sandbank OWF

By: Tom Russell 14/09/2015 Vattenfall

Converters General Turbines Vessels Windfarms

Inter array cabling has started at Vattenfall's and Stadtwerke München's (SWM) Sandbank offshore wind farm. The first power cables are being installed between the monopiles “SB 28C” and “SB 29C”.

JDR Cables, based in Hartlepool (Great Britain), have been tasked with the production of the cables. The main contractor tasked with the cable installation is VBMS, based in the Netherlands.

The companies stated that approximately 96 km of cable is being installed within the wind farm. They also stated that two different cross-sections for the project have been selected: 630 mm² and 185 mm². The cables contain an optical fibre that not only allows for the data exchange between each wind turbine and the offshore substation, but also the remote control and surveillance of the wind farm by the Vattenfall Control Centre in Esbjerg, Denmark.

During the installation process the cables are placed on the seabed, following this they are injected at a minimum depth of between 0.6 metres to more than 1 metre into the bottom of the North Sea. This work is implemented by the cable-laying vessel “Stemat-Spirit”which also undertakes the transport of the cable from Great Britain to the sea construction site at Sandbank.

Sandbank's offshore substation is currently being built by companies located in Denmark, Poland, and Germany, however Bladt Industries A/S of Denmark are the responsible main contractor. Within the offshore substation the power produced by the wind turbines is transformed from 33 kilovolt to a voltage level of 155 kilovolt. After this it is passed on to the converter station SylWin alpha.

The investment costs for the Sandbank offshore wind farm are around EUR 1.2 billion. Vattenfall holds a 51% stake in Sandbank Offshore Wind GmbH, which was set up to implement the project, while SWM holds a 49% stake. 72 Siemens wind power plants in the 4-megawatt (MW) class will be constructed, providing a total installed capacity of 288 MW. Sandbank's construction started July this year and the wind farm is expected to be fully commissioned in 2017.

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Cabling starts at Sandbank OWF

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