EnBW: Risk mitigation in Offshore Cabling

Vincent Buchert, Project Leader Infield Cables at EnBW, Germany offers us a

glimpse of his experience in offshore cabling and its risks. Read the whole
interview here to read about his solutions and a sneak peek of his presentation
at last years conference.
IQPC: What is your field of expertise, and how does it touch on offshore
cabling?
Vincent Buchert: As an electrical engineer, I worked on several
on- and offshore wind projects. My experience touches a broad
field of competences, mainly related to interface and risk
management for which Ive been responsible in the Baltic 1 and
Hohe See project and also insurance, claim and commercial
management. Since 2012, Im responsible for the internal array
grid of the EnBW Baltic 2 wind farm.

IQPC: Offshore environments are full of surprises. Where do you see the
biggest risks for cabling projects, and how can they be avoided?
Vincent Buchert: The main field of risks I see are lack of experience, the suitability of
equipment in regard to the site conditions, and also the interfaces. In order to mitigate
these risks, a wind farm owner should endeavour to gain maximal knowledge of the sea
bed and metocean conditions prior to closing of an installation contract to ensure the
choice of suitable installation equipment. Regarding interfaces, a proper interface
identification and management plan should be installed at project start, based on
lessons learnt and other experiences.
IQPC: Where do you see technology gaps and room for improving subsea
installation technology?
Vincent Buchert: The offshore wind cabling fields still lacks experience, especially the
combination of new built purpose vessels, associated equipment and installation
personnel. It is not sufficient if each single element promises high performance more
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interesting is how these fit together to do each single and particular job in a proper
manner.
I also see possibilities for improving cable pull-in and subsequent routing on turbine
foundations and especially offshore substations. A way achieving this could be to
establish company or industry standards to be considered in the design of foundations
or substations as well as cable pull-in.
Thank you very much for this interview!
Background Info:

EnBW Baltic 2 Project

With EnBW Baltic 2 we navigate considerably larger dimensions than with our first offshore
wind park in the Baltic Sea: EnBW Baltic 2 has wind turbines scarcely a third larger, is fout
times as big as EnBW Baltic 1 and generates six times as much electricity. That sets
requirements regarding planning and logistics in every respect.

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t: +49 (0) 30 2091 3330 | f: +49 (0) 30 2091 3263 | e: eq@iqpc.de | w: www.iqpc.de
Visit IQPC for a portfolio of topic-related events, congresses, seminars and conferences: www.iqpc.de

The depth of the sea varies between 23 and 44 meters. Depending on this depth, the
installations are mounted either on steel piles, so-called monopiles (up to 35 meters deep)
or steel-framework-structures, so-called jackets (starting from a depth of 35 meters).
With a yearly output of about 1.2 billion kWh EnBWs Wind park Baltic 2 is able to provide
electricity for about 340,000 households per year. By this, 900,000 tons CO2 can be saved.
At a glance:

Location: Baltic Sea, 32 km north of the island Rgen

Size: ca. 27 km

Wind turbines: 80 Siemens SWT-3,6-120

Foundations: 39 Monopiles (approx. 23 35 m) und 41 Jackets (starting at approx.

35 m)

Depth: 23 44 m

Total output: 288 MW

Output per year: 1,2 billion kWh

Average windspeed: approx. 9,7 m/s

Source: www.enbw.com

-3------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------IQPC GmbH | Friedrichstr. 94 | D-10117 Berlin, Germany

t: +49 (0) 30 2091 3330 | f: +49 (0) 30 2091 3263 | e: eq@iqpc.de | w: www.iqpc.de
Visit IQPC for a portfolio of topic-related events, congresses, seminars and conferences: www.iqpc.de