Prysmian Group secures contracts for a total of approximately 85 M € for the Offshore Wind Park Butendiek

Prysmian Group has been awarded two new contracts worth approximately 85 million € in total for the cable systems related to the connection of the Butendiek offshore wind farm in Germany.

The Group has secured in separate awards both the contract for the supply and installation of the submarine high voltage cables for the grid connection of the wind farm to the offshore HVDC converter platform “SylWin alpha” – granted by the German-Dutch transmission operator TenneT to Prysmian for an approximate value of 70 million € – and the contract for the supply of medium voltage submarine cables, for the interarray connections of the 80 wind park turbines – awarded to Draka by the Dutch marine contractor Visser and Smit for an approximate value of 15 million €. The onward cable connection from the offshore platform to the German mainland grid, using high voltage direct current submarine and land cable systems, will be realised within the SylWin1 project - a record in terms of operating voltage (± 320 kV DC), capable of a transmission power level of 864 MW employing VSC technology (Voltage Sourced Converter) - awarded to the Group in January 2011. With these projects Prysmian is defining another milestone, as it is the first time that a single manufacturer has provided all required interarray, HVAC and HVDC cables, for both offshore and land installation, to create the complete link from each individual wind turbine at sea to the grid connection point on land. This new achievement reconfirms how the integration between Prysmian and Draka has increasingly broadened the range of technologies and services offered by the Group to provide total cable solution capability also in the sector of renewable energies.

Prysmian Group is implementing a plan of investments to further strengthen its leadership position in the strategic and fast-growing sector of submarine cables and systems, particularly for the grid connection of offshore wind parks. The Group can now utilise three dedicated production facilities, where the cables for these orders will also be manufactured: Arco Felice (near Naples) in Italy, Pikkala in Finland and Drammen in Norway. Delivery of the Butendiek cable systems is planned within 2014. With this extended production footprint, Prysmian Group is able to face the market as the reference partner for cable links from mainland grid to individual offshore wind turbine tower.

Within its portfolio, Prysmian Group has an ever increasing track record of important offshore wind power connections, with projects either completed or ongoing in Denmark, Holland, UK and in Germany, most of which are associated to the offshore HVDC grid connection installations of BorWin2, HelWin1, HelWin2 and SylWin1, and which now also includes the Butendiek offshore wind park. With the multiple key contracts awarded over the last 18 months for German offshore projects, Prysmian Group reconfirms its key role within the most important programme for the development of renewable energies in Europe, being implemented in Germany. “These two new contracts not only represent for Prysmian Group a new step ahead in terms of business and services for the renewable energies industry, but also broaden and complete the Group’s offer in terms of technologies and product range” explains Fabio Romeo, Senior Vice President Business Energy. “The significant synergies achieved with Draka, together with the cross-selling in the relevant excellence areas open new scenarios for the Group and consolidate the projects already ongoing”.