TenneT has awarded the consortium between VBMS and NKT Cables with a contract for the installation of two 67km export cables that will connect the Borssele Beta substation, i.e. the Borssele 3 & 4 offshore wind farms, to the Dutch onshore grid.
In November 2016 , VBMS and NKT Cables won a contract to supply and install two Borssele Alpha export cables with an option for Borssele Beta, which has been awarded now.
Under the latest contract, VBMS will also install a 7km interconnector cable between the Borssele Alpha and Beta offshore substations.
The contract for Boskalis’ subsidiary VBMS has been valued at approximately EUR 70 million.
The four cables will be routed via the Western Scheldt estuary and will come ashore near the existing high-voltage substation at Borssele, the Netherlands.
As part of the works, Boskalis will pre-sweep and dredge the shallow parts of the route to enable VBMS to simultaneously lay and bury the export cables at the required depth.
The grid connection of the Borssele offshore wind area consists of two 700MW connections: Alpha and Beta. Borssele Alpha, which will connect Borssele 1 & 2 to the grid, will go into service in 2019 and Borssele Beta will be operational in 2020.