TenneT today announced that it had connected Riffgat offshore wind farm to the grid, and that sustainable wind power will begin to flow from sea to land as of tomorrow (February 12).
Aside to 50 kilometers of submarine cable, 30 km of land cable was laid.
Riffgat offshore wind farm was completed in July 2013, but the connection to the power grid was delayed due to the unexploded ordnance left from the World War Two, which needed to be cleared from the seabed.
As a result, the connection created additional costs of a total of nearly 100 million euros. Thus, the costs caused by the ammunitions clearance are slightly below the whole project costs.
In 2011, TenneT was assigned with a cable route from the operator of Riffgat wind farm, which ran along a mine-infested area, without the possibility to modify it.
“It is deeply unfortunate that the planning of submarine route by the wind farm operator has ultimately led to high costs, which consumers will now have to bear,” Lex Hartman from TenneT said.
Offshore WIND Staff, February 11, 2014; Image: riffgat.de