Borkum submarine power cable
Island LinkOperationalDE33 kV25 km2013
Also known as:submarine cable "Borkum"
Status:Operational
Project Company:EWE NETZ GmbH
Type:island link
Website:www.ewe-netz.de
Supply Chain (0)
Project Timeline (6)
26 Nov 2013Commercial Operations Full Power
The new EWE NETZ submarine power cable between Manslagt on the mainland and the island of Borkum was put into operation on 26 November 2013, marking the completion of nearly four years of planning and construction and fully securing the island’s electricity supply. The cable, laid in the environmentally sensitive Lower Saxony Wadden Sea and described by Stadtwerke Borkum as an additional EWE submarine cable installed in 2012 and commissioned in 2013, is now in regular commercial service.
1 Aug 2013Cable Installation Complete
Network operator EWE completed installation of a 23.5 km subsea power cable connecting the mainland to the island of Borkum in the German North Sea, with the laying works carried out between the end of June and mid-August 2013. The project created the longest subsea power link to the East Frisian Islands and demonstrated that cable installation in the North Sea can proceed smoothly compared with the delayed Riffgat grid connection.
1 Jun 2013Cable Installation Start
From late June 2013, network operator EWE began installing a 23.5 km submarine power cable from the mainland across the Wadden Sea to the island of Borkum, with the laying work continuing until mid-August; this new sea cable, part of a €17 million EWE NETZ investment to strengthen Borkum’s electricity supply security, is described as the longest sea link to the East Frisian Islands.
Apr 2013Cable Supplier Selected
In April 2013, Norddeutsche Seekabelwerke GmbH supplied and handed over a 25 km, 33 kV submarine power cable—containing three 120 mm² power cores and two fibre-optic elements—to EWE NETZ GmbH in Nordenham for the new grid connection of the North Sea island of Borkum, indicating Norddeutsche Seekabelwerke as the cable supplier for the project.
1 May 2012Onss Commissioned
EWE NETZ brought a STATCOM voltage control installation into operation in May 2012 as part of the network reinforcement associated with the new submarine power cable connection to Borkum, providing reactive power support to balance voltage fluctuations from injections and network losses.
1 May 2012Onshore Construction Start
In May 2012, EWE NETZ GmbH began onshore construction works for the new submarine power cable to Borkum, installing an approximately 1,000‑metre plastic conduit by horizontal drilling from the Wadden Sea to the island as the first construction phase of the project, ahead of subsequent works on the mainland. The company later reported completion of this first phase in a 10 July 2012 press release.