The coming years will see grid operator TenneT bring wind energy from the sea to land on the Maasvlakte, Netherlands.
To enable the landing of these electricity cables, contractor NRG started six drillings under the dunes on 26 May, with three more to follow after the European summer.
In recent days, NRG has made the necessary preparations both inside the dike and on the beach.
The electric drill is making a horizontal directional drilling (HDD) over a distance of approximately 200m towards the beach. An empty plastic casing will be placed in that borehole, into which the electricity cable will later be pulled.
In order to connect such an unmanned platform at sea to the high-voltage grid on land, a 525,000-volt cable system is buried in the seabed.
TenneT project lead Robert Wijnholds said the contractor carried out the HDD via GPS in three steps.
“First, they use the electric drill to make a so-called pilot drilling from the work area behind the dunes to the beach,” he said. “The drilling team then pulls a reamer through the drilling to make the hole bigger. During the third and final step, the reamer is connected to a casing pipe with a diameter of almost half a metre and then pulled back.”
The sea cables will be installed next year and will be laid metres deep in the beach. Behind the dunes, they will be connected underground to the electricity cables that are currently being laid in the ground on land. TenneT has placed an information point on the Noordzeeboulevard – within walking distance of car park P3 – near the drill. From the roof, visitors have a perfect view of the work.
Do you have news for the international trenchless industry? Contact journalist Gerald Lynch at gerald.lynch@primecreative.com.au
