National Grid and Energinet have selected cable and converter station suppliers for the developers of the Viking Link Interconnector project.
The Viking Link is a 1.4GW high voltage direct current (HVDC) submarine power cable between the UK and Denmark. Claimed to be the longest in the world when completed, the project will be stretch 768km from Lincolnshire to Western Denmark.
It will include two parallel HVDC cables which will be manufactured and installed by Prysmian Powerlink and NKT HV Cables.
The interconnector will operate at ± 525 kV DC, allowing up to 1.4GW of power to be transferred between the two countries passing through single-core, mass-impregnated paper-insulated cables.
The HVDC cable system will provide access to renewable and sustainable energy to more than 1.4 million households, while reducing the cost of electricity in the two countries.
German industrial manufacturing company Siemens will supply and install the equipment for two converter station sites, which will be installed at sites in Lincolnshire, UK and Revsing, Denmark.
Combined value of three contracts for Viking Link is £985m
The combined value of the three contracts is €1.1bn (£985m). With the suppliers now being finalised, the interconnector project will move from the development stage to the construction phase, with work at both the UK and Denmark to begin next summer. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2023.
Italian cable manufacturer Prysmian Group has secured a turn-key design, manufacturing and installation contract worth €700m (£627m). As part of the contract, Prysmian will develop 1,250km submarine cable and all of the 135km land cables on the UK side.
Prysmian Group CEO Valerio Battista said: “We are proud to have the opportunity to support two of our most important customers, National Grid and Energinet, in the development of such a strategic infrastructure, which will represent a milestone for the upgrade of the entire EU power transmission grid.”
Prysmian stated that all the cables for the project will be manufactured at its Arco Felice facility in Italy.
For its part, NKT has secured a €90m contract to supply about 150km of 525 kV MI high-voltage DC onshore power cables, connecting the Danish and British transmission grids.
NKT will manufacture its cables at its Swedish facility in Karlskrona, with production to start next year.
NKT Interim CEO Roland M. Andersen said: “I am pleased that we are selected as power cables supplier to Viking Link, which is a key project for the North-European transformation towards renewable energy supplies. The award is a recognition of our technological competences also in the growing extra high-voltage interconnector segment from Energinet and National Grid.”
