ElbX: Excavation pit for the target shaft is ready – Elsa can come
A decisive step has been taken on the Lower Saxony side of the Elbe: following the completion of the technically challenging diaphragm wall works in February 2025, the PORR Special Civil Engineering team has now reached another important milestone with the completion of the receiving pit.
ElbX is a central component of the approximately 700-kilometre-long SuedLink underground cable connection, which will transport renewable energy from Brunsbüttel and Wilster to Großgartach and Bergrheinfeld from 2028 onwards. The ARGE Tunnel ElbX consortium, comprising PORR GmbH & Co. KGaA and Wayss & Freytag Ingenieurbau AG, is constructing a 5.2-kilometre-long tunnel at a depth of around 20 metres on behalf of TenneT. Six 525-kV direct current cables will run through it to transport wind energy from the north to the south of Germany.
The main excavation pit for the shaft building in Wischhafen has been fully excavated and dewatered. The stiffening layers to reinforce the shoring have been installed, and the lowest layer has already been removed following the completion of the base by the civil engineering team – a crucial step for the subsequent installation of the tunnel boring machine Elsa.
In the smaller excavation pit for the joint building, the underwater concrete base has also been completed and secured against buoyancy with micropiles. Only the dewatering remains to be carried out here.
With these advances, the target excavation pit is ready for the arrival of the tunnel boring machine Elsa. The tunnel breakthrough is scheduled for mid-2026.
ElbX is therefore on schedule – an important contribution to SuedLink, which will transmit its first electricity in 2028.
