Cable Installation
On behalf of TenneT, main contractor Prysmian and contractor DEME have started installing high-voltage cables on the bottom of Lake Veere in the Dutch province of Zeeland.
In the future, these cables will bring electricity generated by offshore wind farms ashore.
A large, specially developed installation system mounted on a pontoon in Lake Veere is being used to install the 525,000-volt (525 kV) high-voltage cables. The work will continue until spring 2027.
The cables are part of the IJmuiden Ver Alpha and Nederwiek 1 offshore grid connection projects. These connections will transport electricity from future wind farms in the North Sea to the mainland.
The high-voltage cables will come ashore at Banjaard Beach in Kamperland and will then run beneath the Veerse Gat Dam and through Lake Veere towards Borssele.
In Borssele, two onshore converter stations will be constructed to convert the generated electricity from 525,000 volts direct current (DC) to 380,000 volts alternating current (AC).
The electricity can then be transmitted through TenneT’s national high-voltage grid.
This will enable millions of households, businesses and industrial facilities to benefit from electricity generated in the North Sea in the future.
The pontoon in Lake Veere been specially developed by DEME for the installation of the high-voltage cables.
This is the first time TenneT has installed 525 kV cables in the bed of an inland waterway.
Four cables will be installed in Lake Veere for each grid connection: two high-voltage cables, one spare cable and one fibre-optic cable.
These cables represent a new generation of high-voltage technology, capable of transmitting extremely large amounts of electricity over long distances.
Each cable has a diameter of 16 centimetres and weighs approximately 67 kilograms per metre.
The installation process takes into account environmental protection, water safety, shipping and recreational activities.
