Close Overlay
Weissensee / Füssen

Inshore

Weissensee / Füssen

110kv cable laid underwater

The underwater cable that runs along the bottom of Lake Weissen by Füssen in the Allgäu region of southern Germany is 1500 metres long. It is the first part of a new 110kv link between Füssen and Pfronten for the Reutte power company. Nordseetaucher was contracted to provide diving services on the project by Alcatel Kabelmetall.

The cable consists of three strands with a diameter of 10cm and a PE pipe with a diameter of 12cm. Total weight per metre was 30kg.

On dry land the cables were bundled together with the PE pipe. A cable winch was installed and a wire was laid across the lake and back again, giving a total length of 3000 metres.


With the aid of floaters and a winch pontoon rig with a pull of 40t, the cable was pulled across the lake, up on to the shore and secured there.

Then the winch pontoons were floated across the lake and installed at the end of the cable bundle.

After the pontoons and the winch were moved, the cable bundle was moved laterally over the length of the lake before being secured in its final position.

To ensure that there was no unnecessary and potentially hazardous strain on the cables, the cable bundle was laid on the lake floor at either end before the middle section was lowered.

After lowering was completed - the part of the lake that the cable crosses is up to 25m deep - the entire length of the cable was inspected by divers with underwater cameras.

It was decisive to ensure that there were no floaters under the cable and check that the cable was not resting on sharp rocky edges.

To our knowledge, this is the first time that a 3x110kv cable has been laid through a lake over a length of 1500m, and we are proud to have set a new record with comparatively little effort.