Offshore cables installed to connect offshore wind farms to Netherlands electricity

Energy transition is one of the major issues on the global agenda. Countries, especially those in the northern hemisphere, are developing different strategies to replace fossil energy with greener energy.

In this context, a project in the Netherlands is relevant for the number of homes it will be able to supply and for the innovative technology it uses. Jan De Nul Group completed the first part of the offshore cable installation work for the Tennet power grid that will connect the transformer stations of the Hollandse Kust North and Alpha West wind farms to the mainland. Each of these stations will receive two cables, with a total length of 235 kilometers.

To carry out this offshore installation, Jan De Nul recently closed a deal with UK-based Global Marine Systems Ltd. for the purchase of a new support vessel to be named Symphony. This new vessel will join those already in use in the area, such as the cable installation vessel Isaac Newton, amphibious cranes in the breaker zone and several remote-controlled underwater trenchers.

Within the framework of this project, the Moonfish trencher, designed and developed by the Belgian firm especially for this project, also stands out, which at this stage buried the first section of the two Hollandse Kust (noord) cables in the seabed, from the beach up to 3 kilometers offshore at a depth of about 6 to 8 meters. Simultaneously, this powerful equipment allows immediate backfilling of the created trench, thus protecting the cables against future coastal erosion, and thus accomplishing the task successfully.

Once the wind farms are operational, they will produce enough green energy to power one million homes per year. Considering the outcome of this project, the company is very proud to be part of an initiative of this nature that will produce renewable energy from the use of its innovative fleet.

This same technology is available in Argentina and throughout the region for large-scale projects that require complex works at sea, and is currently present in the first generation vessels that carry out dredging and maintenance tasks in ports, access channels and river routes in Argentina.