Home Subsea Project Worth EUR850 Million Awarded to Prysmian for UK Cable Television Connection Job
By Melisa Cavcic | December 1, 2023
Italy-headquartered cabling giant Prysmian Group has secured an agreement worth approximately EUR850 million for a high voltage direct current (HVDC) cable connection in the UK. The project aims to enable 50 GW of offshore wind power generation by 2030 and support the nation in achieving its net zero by 2050 objective.
Prysmian’s Leonardo da Vinci cable laying vessel; Source: Prysmian
Prysmian has signed a contract with Eastern Green Link 1 Limited, a joint venture between the UK transmission grid owners SP Transmission and National Grid Electricity Transmission, to supply the cable systems for the Eastern Green Link 1 (EGL1) network development project between Scotland and England.
Hakan Ozmen, EVP Projects at Prysmian Group, commented: “We greatly appreciate the trust that SP Energy Networks and National Grid have placed in Prysmian to deliver this first-of-a-kind project in the UK. This milestone agreement is a validation of our leadership in the field of HVDC systems and the level of our commitment to providing the support our customers seek as they develop and strengthen the cable network connections required for the energy transition.”
The new multi-million contract, effective immediately, has now been added to the company’s order backlog. This follows the selection as the preferred bidder for the Eastern Green Link 1 (EGL1) cable link in the UK and the commitment to ensure the necessary capacity after the Italian company was chosen for the Eastern Green Link 2 (EGL2) project.
The EGL1 project envisions the creation of a vital electricity transmission link between Torness in East Lothian, Scotland, and Hawthorn Pit in County Durham, England. Prysmian emphasizes that this is the first contracted cable system in the UK to use 525 kV HVDC technology with extruded XLPE insulation. With a power bandwidth of 2 GW, the Italian giant will design, manufacture, install, test, and commission the required HVDC cable system.
This will enable the delivery of almost 400 km of power cable needed for the 194 km route between the two countries. The majority of the 176 km portion of the route is expected to be installed offshore in the North Sea with onshore sections of around 8 km and 10 km in Scotland and England, respectively.
Prysmian will provide HVAC cable systems along approximately 5 km of the route in Scotland to connect the converter station at Torness with the grid substation near Branxton, requiring 30 km of 400 kV XLPE insulated cable. The specific HVDC and HVAC cable systems will be equipped with fiber optic cable and monitoring systems.
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