New contract develops France to UK electricity interconnector

10th April 2017
Posted By : Anna Flockett
New contract develops France to UK electricity interconnector

Prysmian Group has secured a contract worth around €350m with IFA2 SAS, a joint venture between National Grid IFA2 Ltd – part of National Grid UK – and RTE of France. The contract is for the turn-key design, manufacture and installation of a submarine and land power cable link to connect Tourbe in France to Chilling in Hampshire, UK.

Massimo Battaini, SVP Energy Projects said: “This is a prestigious project for Prysmian, and we are delighted to have been selected by two of our most important customers, National Grid and RTE, highlighting our worldwide market and technological leadership in submarine cable transmission systems.”

The High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) interconnection will operate at ±320kV DC and will allow up to 1000MW of power to be transferred between the countries. The HVDC cable system comprises approximately 25km route length in France, running from Tourbe converter station in Northern France to the landing point close to Caen.

The subsea route is just over 200km and will land at the south coast of the UK at Solent Airport near Fareham where the UK converter station is to be located. In addition to the HVDC cable link, the contract includes a High Voltage Alternating Current (HVAC) link that will connect the converter station to a local substation in Chilling, UK. This includes 2km land sections at each end with a 5km subsea section between them.

The subsea cables will be manufactured in the Prysmian production facility in Pikkala, Finland, whilst the land cables will be manufactured at the Prysmian factory in Gron, France. The installation of the land sections will also involve resources and facilities from Prysmian France and Prysmian UK, whose headquarters are situated in the local area. The Prysmian cable laying vessels Cable Enterprise and Ulisse will be utilised in the installation of the cables.

The system commissioning is scheduled for 2020.


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