Nexans to support Germany’s energy transition by electrifying BorWin6 for TenneT

• Nexans has been awarded a turnkey contract for the manufacturing and installation of the record length direct current (DC) subsea and land cables for BorWin 6 by TenneT.
• The 235-kilometer-long 320 kV direct current connection will transmit up to 980MW from the BorWin cluster.
• The BorWin cluster will have a transmission capacity of nearly 4GW when finished, enough to supply around 5 million German households and is a key enabler of Germany’s Energy transition – Energiewende.
• The contract further solidifies Nexans as a leader in the global transition to clean energy.

The German energy transition is one of the largest projects that Germany has undertaken. The country, striving towards energy independence, wants to move away from fossil fuels and towards renewable sources of energy, fundamentally changing the energy supply. Germany has invested heavily in renewables such as offshore wind energy, generated far out at sea, which is expected to be an essential building block for the energy supply of the future. Germany is seeking to increase offshore wind capacity, targeting 30GW, by 2030 and for their energy mix to consist of 80% renewable energy in the same time frame. The BorWin6 project will help Germany achieve these milestones. By 2027 the thirteen, then completed, DC grid connections in the North Sea will have a transmission capacity of over 10.5 GW, enough to supply around 13 million households in Germany with renewable energy.

To electrify the BorWin6 project, Nexans will manufacture, install and protect 320 kV DC XLPE 1 core cables to our customer, TenneT. The subsea part, manufactured in Nexans’ flagship site in Halden, Norway will be 2x190km and the land part, manufactured in Nexans’ site in Charleroi, Belgium, 2×46 km. The HVDC-link will be a 320kV in a bipol bundle. The contract includes full Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation (EPCI) turnkey offering.

BorWin6 is TenneT’s last 320kV HVDC project to connect the remaining almost 1GW from BorWin Cluster in the German North Sea to the onshore grid. The project is included in German Area development plan (FEP from BSH) and will start operations in 2027.

The commitment to innovation and sustainability, focus on electrification and our recent investments (Aurora cable laying vessel, expansion of Halden plant) dedicated to HVDC projects position Nexans as a major player of the energy transition.

BorWin6 will have an output of 980 megawatts off the coast of Borkum. With 190 kilometers of submarine cable, it will be the longest submarine cable route to date of TenneT’s grid connections. On land, the cable will be laid parallel to the routes of the HelWin1+2 and SylWin1 projects, whose onshore converters are also located in Büttel.

• 235 kilometer long connection using high-voltage direct current transmission technology (HVDC) with a maximum transmission capacity of 980 megawatts
• 45 kilometers of land cable, 190 kilometers of submarine cable
• Grid connection point: Büttel (Schleswig-Holstein)
• Planned commissioning 2027.