The Norwegian and German power grids will be able to share green energy directly for the first time thanks to Nexans submarine HVDC (high voltage direct current) cables to be installed as part of the NordLink project.
Nexans will design, manufacture and install two 525kV cable subsystems, with a total length of more than 700km, off the coast of Norway and Denmark. The project, Nexans’ largest of this type to date, is due for completion in 2019.
The contract value is approximately 0.5Bn Euros.
The 1400 MW NordLink VSC (Voltage Source converter) HVDC project, a collaboration between Statnett, TenneT and the German promotional bank KfW, will connect the Norwegian and German electricity markets to exchange green energy. Surplus wind and solar power produced in Germany can be exported to Norway. Conversely, hydroelectric power from Norway can be exported to Germany. This will be an important contribution to the future development of climate-friendly energy.
Nexans will design, manufacture and install mass impregnated non-draining (MIND) HVDC cables at depths down to 450 metres off the coast of Norway and Denmark. The cables will be laid by Nexans’ own cable-laying vessel, C/S Nexans Skagerrak and protected on the seabed by trenching with Nexans’ Capjet system.
The Nexans power cables will feature the same reliable and well proven design implemented for the successfully completed installations of the Skagerrak 1, 2, 3 projects, and more recently the Skagerrak 4 project for the 140 km subsea HVDC interconnector between Denmark and Norway.
Production of the cables will begin at Nexans’ Halden plant in Norway in 2016.
