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Prysmian Group bolsters fleet with new cable barge

4C Offshore | Tom Russell
By: Tom Russell 03/11/2022 Prysmian Group

Prysmian Group announced its fleet of four cable laying vessels
Leonardo Da Vinci, Giulio Verne, Cable Enterprise, and Ulisse has now increased to five with the purchase of Barbarossa I, a 67-meter-long ultra-shallow-water barge.

Barbarossa I’s maiden voyage for Prysmian Group has been to the tidal flats of the northern coast of Germany, where Prysmian Group is installing approximately 130 kilometers of land and submarine cables for the DolWin5 offshore grid connection project commissioned by transmission system operator TenneT. The turnkey connections will link the offshore converter platform DolWin epsilon, located approximately 100 km off the German coast in the North Sea, to the mainland Emden/Ost converter station, with the purpose of transmitting the generated renewable energy into the German grid.


The DolWin5 route calls for three different vessels depending on water depth. The final stretch of the installation took place in the very shallow waters of the Wadden Sea that runs along the coasts of Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. Near the shore, the water is only around 1.5-2 meters deep, and comes and goes with the tides, meaning that only smaller barges like Barbarossa I are suitable. Prysmian Group can use Cable Enterprise for the deeper waters at 60 kilometers from the shore. For the intermediate distance of 30 kilometers from shore, the 136-meter-long Ulisse can do the job. And Barbarossa I took over for the final 4 kilometers nearest the coast.

Barbarossa I , which has accommodation for 30 people, has been outfitted with new cable installation equipment such as cable linear engines, winches, cable tanks, and monitoring and control systems. For DolWin5, it has been equipped with a vibro sword capable of burying cables under the seabed. Half of the 30-kilometer land route in Lower Saxony was completed in 2021. This year Prysmian finished the remaining land portion and began the Wadden Sea and near shore portion. The offshore segment will be completed in 2023. The project will wrap in January 2024.

In a separate announcement, Prysmian Group revealed it has been awarded a contract by France’s transmission system operator Réseau de Transport d'Électricité (RTE) to provide inspection, maintenance and repair services for the submarine export power cable links connecting the three offshore wind farms near the French coast of Normandy that will be linked to the mainland using Prysmian cables. The wind farms at St. Nazaire, Fécamp and Calvados are among the largest commercial wind farms ever built in France.

The agreement will last 15 years and enters into effect immediately at the already-completed link of St. Nazaire. It will be then extended to the other two links as soon as they enter into operation.


The contract will cover the three HVAC (High Voltage Alternating Current) 220 kV three-core submarine cables with XLPE insulation and single-wire armouring of the Fécamp (2x18km offshore), Calvados (2x16km offshore) and St. Nazaire (2x34km offshore) wind farms.



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