Dinteloord
Teamwork is essential
Medium voltage connections for Enexis
A top performance by A.Hak in Dinteloord, Brabant. There, A.Hak Zuid is installing new medium voltage connections for Enexis through all weather conditions. Despite the necessary challenges, teamwork ensures that the client’s delivery date is met.
The project for Enexis in Dinteloord is not particularly special for me, says Tim Wilms, supervisor at A.Hak Zuid. Wilms and his team are working here on the installation of new medium voltage connections. From the 150 kV station of Enexis, bundles run to a wind farm and a greenhouse complex, four bundles to Cosun Beet Company (formerly Suiker Unie) and another bundle to a medium voltage distribution station. From the station, another bundle is being installed towards the NewCold freezing facility.
A.Hak installs the cables in open excavation and realizes the HDDs with the electric 80-ton drilling rig. “I do find it an interesting project because of the cable route and the length of the drillings,” Wilms explains. “Those are between 700 and 800 meters and we don’t execute those very often as A.Hak Zuid.”
The ‘challenging’ project
The project will be completed at the end of January 2025, fully according to Enexis’s desired delivery dates. That sounds obvious, but the execution didn’t go without a hitch. Among other things, due to objections from Stichting Sirene against the realization of higher wind turbines in the Karolinapolder, the project’s start date was postponed several times, while the delivery date remained unchanged. “And when we had already started outside in November last year, our work was halted. Enexis had to conduct an explosive ordnance investigation at the last moment,” Wilms describes. “Ultimately, we had to realize this project in a short timeframe.”
Add to that periods with frost, ice and a lot of rain, sometimes grumbling farmers and the limited space for cable installation, and you understand why the supervisor and his colleagues call this project ‘challenging’.
“Without those men outside, we couldn’t have completed this work, simple as that. Everyone – foremen, machine operators, technicians and groundworkers – has been incredibly important. Thanks to them, we can finish this project on time in January.”
Wilms tells his story from Etten-Leur, where hard work is already underway on the next challenging project: the installation of fourteen bundles in a trench 5.5 meters wide, again for client Enexis.
What makes working in underground infrastructure so enjoyable for him? “As A.Hak, we’re building for the future and for a future-proof electricity grid. And we do it with a group of great colleagues.” Work planner Michael van der Zande then joins the conversation. “That thing about those colleagues isn’t true, you know. Just write that down,” he says with a wink. The laughter that follows is perhaps even more indicative of the good team spirit and atmosphere at A.Hak Zuid.
Wilms mentions the pleasant cooperation with colleagues from A.Hak Electron and A.Hak Drillcon. “Electron provided the electric cable transporters and cable pulling calculations. The knowledge and expertise of Drillcon helped us successfully realize the drillings with the 80-tonner.”
