Prysmian has signed a capacity reservation agreement for a capacity reservation fee of up to €90m for a new power interconnector between Tasmania and Victoria, Australia.
The agreement concerns the Marinus Link, a project being developed by a subsidiary of the Australian TSO TasNetworks.
With an overall capacity of 750MW, the interconnector will facilitate the flow of electricity between the two states, enabling an efficient transfer of power from the areas where renewable energy is generated to those where it is needed.
The agreement includes Commonwealth government underwriting the capacity reservation fee of up to €90m and Prysmian Group’s continued capacity availability until the execution of the final contract within July 2024.
The deal will be negotiated and is expected to be finalised within 2024.
Prysmian has reserved the capacity to design, test, supply and install a HVDC cable system, consisting of 320 kV single-core lines with XLPE insulation and single-wire armouring, covering both submarine and land sections.
The submarine connection will be approximately 255km long, from north-west Tasmania to Waratah Bay, Victoria, while the underground cable will run for approximately 90km reaching the Latrobe Valley, Victoria.
The link will include a stand-alone submarine fibre optic cable of 255km.
The capacity to manufacture the submarine cable has been reserved at Prysmian Group’s Arco Felice centre of excellence in Italy, while for the land cables space has been reserved in Delft, The Netherlands, or Gron in France. The capacity for the installation operations has been reserved with Prysmian Group’s record-setting wire-laying vessel, the Leonardo da Vinci.
Under the Marinus Link project, Prysmian Group is expected to also provide a fully integrated PRY-CAM permanent monitoring system.
“This capacity reservation agreement has a strategic importance for Prysmian as it underlines our global leadership and strengthens our regional presence in Oceania as a major supplier of an extensive range of high-tech products to power utilities,”” said chief commercial officer projects BU, Prysmian Group, Detlev Waimann.
“Australia represents a major market for the Group, with a number of projects under development.”