Cabling firm NKT has recently completed the repair operations on the 1GW BritNed electricity interconnector between the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
An unplanned outage took place in December last year due to a cable fault.
NKT mobilised staff and equipment for localising the fault, de-burial and cut and seal operation onboard a subcontracted vessel.
The company found the damaged power cable section at approximately 100 kilometres off the Dutch coast at a water depth of 40-50 meters.
NKT said it executed the repair works successfully despite severe weather. The cable-laying vessel NKT Victoria , also supported by DP2 Assister , carried out the cable repair project.
The operation was executed within 29 days and the connector is now back in full service.
The full technical capacity became available on 9 February 2021.
“The uptime of interconnecting power cable systems is central to the transition to renewable energy in Europe, and we are proud to have demonstrated once again our repair preparedness by quickly mobilising our skilled repair team and equipment. The operational success was ensured by an efficient collaboration of all parties involved, minimizing the outage time and bringing BritNed back into operation,” says Axel Barnekow Widmark , executive vice president and Head of Service in NKT.
Commissioned in 2011 , the 260-kilometre BritNed is a joint project between transmission system operators TenneT and National Grid.