The two 59km long 400kV HVDC cables were spooled from a freighter on to the 7,000 te. split capacity duel concentric carousel. The vessel has now started from the port of Blyth to the UK coast near Ramsgate, where the cable installation process will begin.
The cables will be buried deep with the DeepOcean’s T3200 trencher. DeepOcean is scheduled to complete the second phase of the project in the second quarter of next year.
Nemo Link is an HVDC submarine power cable interconnector between Richborough Energy Park in Kent, the UK and Zeebrugge, Belgium. It is a joint venture between British National Grid and Belgium’s transmission system operator Elia.
This is the first electrical interconnector between the two nations and can transmit up to 1GW at 400kV, with an annual capacity of 8.76 TWh.
The cable-laying contract was awarded by J-Power Systems, which originally received the contract for the construction of the interconnector back in 2015. Siemens has received the contract for the construction of two onshore converter stations.
As per the contract with J-Power Systems, DeepOcean is responsible for all the marine work associated with the installation and protection of the HVDC bundled cables from the transition joint bay in Kent, UK to the transition joint bay in Zeebrugge, Belgium.
DeepOcean expects to complete the offshore works for the project in 2018. Apart from the installation and trenching of the bundled cable system, the scope of the contract also includes route surveys and engineering, pre-lay grapnel runs, out of service cable clearance, pre-sweeping in sandwave areas and to construct crossings.
Image: DeepOcean begins journey to lay cables for Nemo Link. Photo: Courtesy of DeepOcean Group.
