On 9 December 2025, Amprion submitted planning approval applications to the Lower Saxony State Authority for Road Construction and Transport for two onshore cable route sections, totalling around 92 km, of the BalWin1 and BalWin2 offshore grid connections between Bösel in Cloppenburg district and the North Rhine-Westphalia/Lower Saxony border, marking the start of the approval process for these onshore routes.
Amprion Offshore began construction work for BalWin1’s submarine export cables in July 2025, marking the start of cable laying for the offshore grid connection in the German North Sea as part of the joint BalWin1 and BalWin2 programme.
In June 2025, Amprion Offshore, a subsidiary of transmission system operator Amprion, secured key planning approval for the BalWin1 offshore grid connection in the coastal waters of Lower Saxony. This approval, granted alongside that for BalWin2, authorises the offshore grid connection works and enables Amprion to proceed with implementing the HVDC export cable system and associated infrastructure for BalWin1.
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BalWin1 is an Amprion-developed offshore HVDC grid connection designed to transmit up to 2,000 MW of electricity from future wind farms in the BalWin cluster in the German North Sea to the onshore transmission grid. The system uses ±525 kV HVDC technology with offshore conversion on a large 2 GW-...
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NOR-9-1, LanWin1
Amprion’s official BalWin1/BalWin2 project progress page states: "Mit Wegebauarbeiten starteten im Juni 2025 die ersten Maßnahmen für den BalWin1 Konverter in Bohmte." This indicates that onshore construction activities for BalWin1 (converter site in Bohmte) began in June 2025. Using June 2025 as the start month for onshore construction, recorded with month-level precision.
On 12 June 2025, Amprion and its contractors Dragados Offshore, Siemens Energy and Meyer Werft held a traditional steel-cutting ceremony at the Dragados yard in Spain and the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, marking the start of production of the BalWin1 and BalWin2 2‑gigawatt converter platforms’ topsides and associated steel structures.
In February 2025, Aker Solutions secured a contract, valued between NOK 1.5 billion and NOK 2.5 billion, to deliver the steel substructure for the HVDC converter station serving the BalWin1 offshore grid connection. The award covers fabrication of the foundation structure that will support the 2 GW BalWin1 offshore converter platform in the German North Sea.
BNetzA confirmed BalWin1 in Netzentwicklungsplan (NEP) 2037/2045 (2023) on 1 March 2024. This confirmation under §12c EnWG creates the legal basis for the responsible TSO to plan, procure, and construct the offshore grid connection system.
BNetzA confirmed the Netzentwicklungsplan Strom 2037/2045 (2023 edition) on 1 March 2024 under section 12c of the German Energy Industry Act (EnWG). This confirmation creates the legal basis and obligation for the responsible TSO to plan, procure, and construct this offshore grid connection system. For regulated German TSO offshore grid connections, the BNetzA NEP confirmation functions as the de facto Final Investment Decision: unlike merchant or developer-led projects that require a separate board-level investment decision and financial close, the NEP confirmation simultaneously authorises and obligates the TSO to invest. Costs are recovered through the offshore grid levy (Offshore-Netzumlage). The NEP 2037/2045 (2023) schedules 25,980 MW of offshore transmission capacity across 16 grid connection systems for commissioning between 2026 and 2032.
On 15 February 2024, Prysmian Group signed final contracts with Amprion, making it the confirmed cable supplier for the BalWin1 offshore grid connection (as well as BalWin2 and DC34). The package, valued at around €5 billion in aggregate and added to Prysmian’s order backlog, covers approximately 4,400 km of ±525 kV HVDC and dedicated metallic return cables, including the full export cable scope for BalWin1.
On 22 August 2023, Amprion announced that Prysmian Group had been selected as preferred bidder for the HVDC cable systems for the BalWin1 offshore grid connection (along with BalWin2 and the DC34 underground project). Under the preferred bidder agreement, Prysmian committed to reserve the necessary production and installation capacity while the parties negotiate remaining contract details with a target to execute final contracts by 15 January 2024, securing key cable components for BalWin1’s 2 GW ±525 kV HVDC export link.
Dragados Offshore, in consortium with Siemens Energy Global, has been selected to develop, build and deliver the HVDC grid stations for the BalWin1 offshore grid connection, alongside BalWin2. Their scope covers the HVDC converter infrastructure, including the offshore converter platform and associated grid station works needed to convert and transmit BalWin1’s 2 GW of offshore wind power to the onshore grid.
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