Installation of a subsea power cable between Norway and Germany has started.
The first metres have been laid on the seabed in Vollesfjord in Vest-Agder.
Once completed, the new cable, NordLink, will be one of the world’s longest power cables, and will provide the first direct link between the Norwegian and German power grids. The entire interconnector is 623 kilometres in length, and 516 kilometres will be installed as a subsea cable.
“The first part of the cable will be installed this summer, 124 kilometres from Vollesfjord and to the Danish sector of the North Sea,” says executive vice president Håkon Borgen , Statnett.
“We have been working on this project for several years, and it is very exciting to get started on the actual cable installation. The cable is now pulled in to shore through a microtunnel from the head of the fjord, and the cable laying vessel is starting its journey towards open sea.”
The cable weighs approximately 50 kilograms per metre and is being installed by the Nexans Skagerrak cable installation ship. Following the laying operation the offshore vessel Polar King will bury the cable in the seabed approximately one metre depending on the seabed conditions. The cable was produced by Nexans in Halden, Norway.
Once NordLink is operational, Norway will have six international cables, in addition to interconnectors over land.
The interconnector between Norway and Germany consist of two cables. Next summer the second cable from Vollesfjord will be installed in parallel to the one that is currently being installed. From Germany, the cable installation will start next year. In total, the subsea cable will be 516 kilometres.
In Germany, the cable will start in Wilster in Schleswig Holstein, northwest of Hamburg.
NordLink is a cooperation between Statnett, the German system operator TenneT and KfW, the German state investment bank. The project has a price tag of EUR 1.5-2 billion.