InterConnect Malta has launched a tender for the transformer and shunt reactors for the second Malta to Sicily electrical interconnector. This is the first of a number of tenders upcoming for the project.
The interconnector will consist of a new ~118-kilometer-long 225 MW HVAC electrical cable interconnection through a submarine cable operating at 220kV between Maghtab in Malta and Ragusa in Sicily to be laid in parallel to the existing HVAC cable link which was commissioned in 2015.
The tender is looking for a contractor to design, supply and install a 245kV high-voltage transformer and two shunt reactors for the interconnector.
The deadline for submitting applications is November 28 by 09:30 local time.
This will be followed by other tenders for the onshore works and laying of the subsea cable together with transition joints.
By the end of this year, the tender for an EPC contract for the onshore works in Maghtab and Ragusa will be launched, including the procurement and installation of land cable and HV terminations in Maghtab Terminal Station and Ragusa Terminal Station.
At the beginning of next year, InterConnect Malta is planning a whole bunch of tenders for the Ragusa Terminal Station – one for an EPC contract for the procurement and installation of switchgear, a tender for the procurement and installation of the control and protection panel, and one for the services of an owner’s engineer to oversee the offshore works and onshore works.
In Q1 2024, InterConnect Malta will also issue a tender of an EPC contract for the procurement, manufacturing, transport, laying, protection and commissioning of the subsea cable and landfall connections in Sicily and Malta.
The second Malta-Sicily cable link is part of the Maltese Government’s future energy strategy for meeting the 2030 climate and energy targets and the longer-term decarbonization objectives. Start of operations is planned for the second quarter of 2026.