NORDERNEY (dpa-AFX) - Before laying power cables for wind farms in the North Sea, grid operator Amprion is examining the ground in the Wadden Sea between the island of Norderney and the coast. From this Wednesday onwards, the nature of the ground on which the submarine cable route is to run will be explored in more detail, as the company announced.

In addition, the ground will be checked for possible unexploded ordnance. These are the first preparatory measures for the laying of the submarine cable, which is due to begin in the Wadden Sea and off the East Frisian island in summer 2025.

Two different vessels will be used for the investigations: a manned vessel and an autonomous, battery-powered survey vessel. "The smaller silhouette, shallower draught and lower noise level than conventional survey vessels will minimize the impact of the measure on wildlife and ecologically sensitive areas," Amprion announced.

Wind power for western and southern Germany

Amprion began construction of the DolWin4 and BorWin4 offshore grid connection systems in mid-2022. These cable systems will be used to transport electricity from wind farms to the transmission grids on the mainland. From the wind farms, they will initially run 60 and 125 kilometers at sea respectively, passing under Norderney.

A further 155 kilometers or so will then be laid as underground cables from the coast towards the existing Hanekenfähr substation near Lingen. The grid operator recently received approval to begin construction of a converter station there.

From 2028, these power lines will transport up to 1.8 gigawatts of power from wind farms in the North Sea to the mainland. According to Amprion, this corresponds to the energy requirements of a large city like Hamburg with 1.8 million inhabitants. The wind power is primarily destined for the consumption centers in the west and south of Germany, where renewable energies are needed following the phase-out of nuclear and coal power./len/DP/zb