Nexans to supply 23 km of 35 kV submarine cables for the Arklow Bank Wind Farm in Ireland

The wind farm, which will have 7 wind turbines, each with a capacity of 3.6 MW, is located in the Irish Sea on a sandbank south of Dublin. The wind turbines will be installed by GE Wind Energy toward the end of the year. In the project's final stage, it could have up to 200 wind turbines.

The cables, with a cross-section of 3 x 1 x 300 mm2 and an outside diameter of 125 mm, are among the largest submarine cables manufactured in Nexans' Hanover plant.

The laying up of a total number of 24 optical fibers for data transmission in the Gbit range between onshore facilities and wind power plants, was another achievement. With optical fibers from Nexans in Norway, especially developed for harsh offshore environments, all wind turbines can be individually controlled from onshore.

In all, 18 railroad cars were required to transport the 16.5 km of main cable, (the weight of which is 410 metric tons) to the port of Emden (Germany). The 7 km of cables required to interconnect the wind turbines were transported in 9 coils.

Yvon Raak, Nexans' Executive Vice President, Europe Area, said, "We are delighted to have won this order which will enable Nexans to strengthen its lead on the market for the supply of cables for wind farms worldwide."