Prysmian Group has successfully completed the installation and HV testing activities of its 1400km of submarine and land power cables for the Viking Link Interconnector linking the UK and Denmark.
Viking Link is a joint venture between National Grid and Energinet and is due to be operational by the end of 2023.
Once online, it will enable the exchange of clean energy between the two countries and is the world’s longest onshore and offshore HVDC interconnector.
Prysmian’s circa €700m contract was awarded in August 2019 by National Grid and Energinet. The deal included the turn-key design, manufacture and installation of the 1250km of cables for the submarine route and approximately 135km of land wires on the UK side.
The interconnector will operate at ±525kV DC and will allow up to 1400MW of power to be transferred between through UK, Dutch, German and Danish waters, using single-core, mass-impregnated paper-insulated cables.
The system is designed to increase access to renewable and sustainable energy sources for more than 1.4m households, reducing the cost of electricity in the UK and providing additional system reliability.
“This important milestone confirms Prysmian’s reliability in executing complex turn-key projects,” said executive vice president Projects BU, Prysmian Group, Hakan Ozmen.
“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.”
All cables were manufactured at the Prysmian Group’s centre of excellence in Arco Felice, Italy. Cable installation involved the Leonardo da Vinci (pictured) in its first-ever offshore campaign, as well the vessel Cable Enterprise.
“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 head of project operations, Projects BU, Prysmian Group Alberto Boffelli.