Italian cable manufacturer Prysmian has announced it has completed the sea trial tests for ultra-deep installation of a 500 kV HVDC MI1 wire in 2150 metres of water.
The company said this is an industry record and is the first time an HVDC wire is laid at such a depth.
Prysmian said the non-metallic armoured cable, which was designed with a composite material based on high modulus synthetic fibres, shapes the new generation of cable technology.
In water this can be 50% lighter than steel and the company said this, combined with the state-of-the-art Leonardo da Vinci cable-laying vessel, will enable the installation and maintenance of Terna’s Tyrrhenian Link at a water depth of more than 2000 metres, the deepest ever reached with a power cable.
It added the success of the sea trials is the result of many laboratory tests and proves once more the solidity of Prysmian innovations. The same lightweight armour technology had been in fact used in 2019 for the Evia – Andros-Tinos interconnection at a water depth of 550 metres and in 2020 for the Crete-Peloponnese submarine interconnection project at 1000 m.
The cable will be employed for the Tyrrhenian Link, a €1.7bn project awarded in 2021 by Terna.
Under the contract, Prysmian will design, supply, and install a total of over 1500km of submarine cables to support the power exchange among Sardinia, Sicily and Campania, reinforcing the Mediterranean energy hub.