ABB, the leading power and automation technology group, has won an order worth around $30 million from Energinet.dk, the Danish transmission system operator, to supply a high-voltage submarine and underground power cable system for the Little Belt strait in Denmark.
This is a shipping lane that connects the North Sea to the Baltic Sea, and separates the island of Funen from the Jutland Peninsula and continental Europe. The cable system is one of several government-initiated projects to replace high-voltage overhead lines and transmission pylons in environmentally sensitive areas.
ABB will supply single-core 420 kilovolts (kV) underground cables with a total length of 30 kilometers (km) and two, three-core 420 kV submarine cables with a total length of 15 km. This is part of a turnkey solution in which ABB will design, supply and commission the cable system, including cable terminations and the laying of the submarine cable. When completed in 2013 this cable system will be the most powerful three-core alternating current (AC) submarine power cable in the world.
One three-core 420 kV submarine cable will be laid instead of three separate single-core cables, which will reduce costs considerably and reduce the cable’s footprint so that it has a lower impact on the seabed. ABB will manufacture the submarine cable in a single continuous length, without factory joints, drawing on its significant expertise and sophisticated extrusion technology.
“ABB is proud to write yet another chapter in the development of high-voltage cable technology,” said Martin Gross, head of ABB’s Grid Systems business within the Power Systems division . “It reiterates our commitment to take power cable systems to higher voltages and greater efficiency while minimizing environmental impact.”
ABB recently completed a similar record-breaking submarine cable system across New York Harbor in the United States. The cable system connects a new high-efficiency power plant in New Jersey to a high-voltage substation in Brooklyn at a record voltage level of 345 kV AC.
ABB is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 130,000 people.
[mappress] Subsea World News Staff , February 15, 2012; Image: ABB