Amprion is expanding its construction site "Am Leuchtturm" on Norderney (Germany) to carry out horizontal drilling for the installation of power cables beneath the island. Since 2022, Amprion has utilised a site approximately 600 metres east of the Norderney lighthouse to perform four horizontal drills to the north beach and the tidal flats south of the island.
This allowed for the installation of protective pipes for future power cables for the DolWin4 and BorWin4 offshore grid connections. Starting 6 January 2025, Amprion will expand the construction site eastwards for the BalWin1 and BalWin2 projects, with drilling scheduled for the summers of 2025 and 2026.
The existing 6,000 square metre gravel area will be expanded by an additional 14,000 square metres of gravel and 8,000 square metres of storage for topsoil. This early setup aims to minimise material transport during the peak tourist season and allow more time for drilling within the narrow summer construction window. Drilling will be conducted between mid-July and the end of September for environmental protection reasons, with southward drilling in 2025 and northward drilling in 2026.
BalWin1 and BalWin2 will have a capacity of 2 GW, requiring three cables each. This means Amprion will drill six times to the south and six times to the north. The BalWin1 and BalWin2 offshore grid connection systems will be installed mostly in parallel on land and at sea. Each project can transmit 2 GW of offshore wind energy. The cables will run 155 km and 165 km at sea from the North Sea wind farms, passing under Norderney and reaching the coast near Hilgenriedersiel. On land, the cables will extend 205 km and 215 km to their connection points in Wehrendorf (BalWin1) and Westerkappeln (BalWin2), where the projects will diverge for the final stretch.
