Cabling Begins for First Germany-Norway Power Link

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Cable installation for the first electricity interconnection project between Germany and Norway has begun.

The first metres of high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) cabling for the 1,400-megawatt (MW) NordLink project have been laid on the seabed in Vollesfjord in Vest-Agder, Norway. NordLink is a joint venture led by Norwegian transmission system operator (TSO) Statnett (Oslo), with grid operator TenneT TSO BV (Arnhem, Netherlands) and Germany's state-owned development bank, KfW.

NordLink will be one of the world's longest power cables, measuring 623 kilometres (km) in length, with 516 km installed as a subsea cable. The twin cables will run from Tonstad in Norway to Schleswig-Holstein, northwest of Hamburg in Germany. The project has an estimated value of 1.5 billion to 2 billion euro ($1.7-$2.7 billion).

"The first part of the cable will be installed this summer, 124 km from Vollesfjord and to the Danish sector of the North Sea," said Executive Vice President Håkon Borgen of Statnett. "We have been working on this project for several years, and it is very exciting to get started on the actual cable installation. The cable is now pulled in to shore through a micro-tunnel from the head of the fjord, and the cable-laying vessel is starting its journey towards open sea."

The cables are being laid by the Nexans Skagerrak cable installation ship, after which the offshore vessel Polar King will bury the cable in the seabed approximately one metre deep, depending on the seabed conditions.

"Extensive wind power infrastructure has been developed in Northern Germany," Borgen added. "This cable will enable an interaction between Norwegian hydropower and German wind and solar power. When the sun shines and wind blows, this can create a power surplus in Germany, and we can buy power for a reasonable price. When the wind is calm and sun doesn't shine, this might cause a demand in Germany, and they can get hydropower from us."

In June, Industrial Info reported on the project receiving a financial boost when the European Investment Bank (EIB) agreed to loan 300 million euro ($335 million) to Statnett to complete NordLink. For additional information, see June 7, 2017, article--Germany-Norway Power Link Gets Financial Surge.

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