Hellenic Cables has hired the offshore installation company Asso.subsea to move, install, and protect the 220 kV export subsea cable system that will connect the Windanker offshore wind farm to the German extra-high voltage transmission grid.
The overall system will consist of one export cable, which will be more than 100 km long in total, to be installed along a submarine route characterized by numerous technical challenges, including shallow water areas, landfall pull-in through a 900 m long HDD conduit, boulder fields, numerous crossings, and soil conditions varying from very soft to hard soils.
Asso.subsea said it would use the DP2 cable laying vessel ‘Atalanti,’ specialized for extremely shallow water working environments, and DP3 Cable laying vessel ‘Ariadne’ for deep water cable installation and platform pull-in.
Also, the DP2 trenching support vessels ‘Argo’ and ‘Aethra’ will take part in the seabed preparation and post-lay burial operations.
Further, Asso.subsea said that the latest versions of the trenching machines from the AssoTrencher V for cable burial in very shallow waters, AssoTrencher IV, as well as the AssoJet III families, which the company says are among the most powerful trenching/jetting ROVs in the market, will be mobilized in order to provide the required protection of the cables along the entire submarine route.
Alexandros Tziotakis, General Manager of Asso.subsea, commented: “We are delighted to partner with Hellenic Cables for the Ostwind 3 project and are extremely proud to be able to support 50Hertz in another fundamental step towards the energy transition.”