50Hertz has reached another important milestone in the approval procedure for the Ostwind 1 offshore cable project. The public hearing for the submarine cable route in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) for the grid connection of the Westlich Adlergrund cluster (project Ostwind 1) was held last week.
The competent authority for the approval of this route section is the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) in Hamburg. In the scope of the legally prescribed public participation procedure, the participants listened to the positions taken by more than 60 public agencies and discussed them under the guidance of the BSH. Following this hearing, the authority will work out the planning approval decision under the terms of the Offshore Installations Ordinance. 50Hertz expects the final decision in the summer of 2015 and hopes to commence preparations for the construction of the submarine cable route in the EEZ soon after.
Just as during the procedure with the Ministry of Energy of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, which is competent for the land route and the sea route in territorial waters, the majority of the positions concerned the environmental impact of the construction and operation of the power cables. Before the application documents were drawn up, 50Hertz performed a comprehensive scientific environmental study and drew up a matching route planning in order to minimise the effects of the project on the environment.
On 9 March 2015, 50Hertz received the planning approval decision for the onshore route from the Ministry of Energy of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. As a result, the construction of the project section right off the coast and on land can start as planned during the summer of this year. The Ministry of Energy announced that according to its current time schedule, the planning approval decision for the offshore route should be reached in June 2015.