Sassnitz – The work on 50Hertz's Ostwind 1 grid connection project is progressing well. After the laying of a 27-km long offshore cable segment by the specialised ship Cable Enterprise in June, the second segment, having a length of some 25 kilometres, is now being laid in the Baltic seabed. "So far, we have managed to lay at least two kilometres of cable per day while attaining the required laying depth of one and a half metres", said Dr Wolfgang Thießen, project leader for cable laying at 50Hertz.
Progress is also being made on the other construction sections for the Ostwind 1 project. By now, the entire route has been cleared of explosive ordnance for all three planned offshore cables, and boulders on the seabed surface have been removed from large parts of the routes. Within the surface water area (kilometres 0 through 39), a test run - i.e. without cable - is being performed with the planned laying equipment in order to identify critical areas for the actual cable laying works.
Along the land route, 43 of the 48 horizontal drill holes have already been completed.
At 50Hertz, a total of over 40 employees are part of the Ostwind 1 project team.
Selected facts on the Cable Enterprise
Home port Falmouth (UK)
Current captain Vincenzo Patrurzo (Italian)
Current crew 69
Length / width 124.32 metres / 31.60 metres
Loaded cable length 28.6 kilometres – weight 3688 tonnes
Laying speed 120-180 metres per hour