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Prysmian Group has announced the successful installation and HV testing of its 1,400 km of submarine and land power cables for the Viking Link Interconnector.
This interconnector links the UK and Denmark, and is generally considered to be the world’s longest onshore and offshore High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) interconnector.
Prysmian’s contract, worth around €700 million, was awarded by National Grid and Energinet. The contract included the turn-key design, manufacture and installation of the interconnector, covering all 1,250 km of cables for the submarine route and approximately 135 km of land cables on the UK side.
The HVDC interconnector will operate at ±525 kV DC and will allow up to 1,400 MW of power to be transferred between the two countries passing through UK, Dutch, German and Danish waters, using single-core, mass-impregnated paper-insulated cables.
The cable system is designed to increase access to renewable and sustainable energy sources for more than 1.4 million households, reducing the cost of electricity in the UK and providing additional system reliability.
All cables were manufactured at the Prysmian Group’s centre of excellence in Arco Felice, Italy. Cable installation involved the Leonardo da Vinci — one of the most advanced cable layers in the market — in its first-ever offshore campaign as well as the vessel Cable Enterprise.
Viking Link is a joint venture between National Grid and Energinet, due to be operational by the end of 2023. Once operational, it will enable the exchange of clean energy between the two countries, supporting their journey to net zero.
“This important milestone confirms Prysmian’s reliability in executing complex turn-key projects,” said Hakan Ozmen, EVP Projects BU, Prysmian Group. “We are committed to supporting countries in achieving their sustainability goals and we are proud of our long-standing relationship with National Grid and Energinet that will help the UK and Denmark to significantly reduce their carbon emissions.”
“Prysmian has invested heavily in the past years to upgrade its cable-laying fleet and wide range of high–tech burial equipment, consolidating the Group’s leadership in the submarine cables business, while boosting insourcing installation capabilities in order to ensure successful and flawless project execution and on-time delivery” added Alberto Boffelli, Head of Project Operations, Projects BU, Prysmian Group.
