Partners TenneT, Statnett and KfW have held a ground-breaking ceremony in northern Germany for the 1.4GW NordLink transmission project.
The €2bn project will provide the first high-capacity power line between Norway and Germany.
Nexans Norway will supply cables for the project and ABB will build two onshore converter stations.
The 623km HVDC link will run between Tonstad in Norway and Wilster in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, enabling the exchange of German wind energy and Norwegian hydropower.
It will feature some 516km of subsea cable and a 54km onshore line in Germany.
Nexans Norway will install the cable in the Norwegian and Danish sections of the project, while ABB will be responsible for the German section as well as the converter stations, the NordLink consortium said. Codan will be the main insurer for the project.
The project is scheduled be completed in 2019 with full commissioning in 2020.
“Projects like NordLink pave the way for an integrated European power market”, TenneT executive Lex Hartman said.
NordLink will be realised by Norwegian TSO Statnett and DC Nordseekabel, both of whom have a 50% share in the project.
German TSO TenneT and state-owned bank KfW hold 50% each of DC Nordseekabel, which is responsible for the construction of the German part of the project, including permits.
Image: Daniel Reinhardt/TenneT
