Nexans has started the installation of the underground land cable for an electricity interconnector that will connect the Orkney Islands to the UK mainland for the first time.
Orkney Link, developed by SSEN Transmission, will comprise a new substation being built at Finstown, approximately 14 kilometers of underground cable installed across Orkney to Warebeth, and a 53-kilometer subsea cable laid to Caithness, where it will connect into a new substation at Dounreay.
Over the coming months, 27 cable drums will be manoeuvred into position along sections of the route between Finstown and Warebeth, near Stromness. Once in position, the cable will be slowly pulled from each drum using winching equipment through ducts that have already been installed along the full route.
The installation will be done in phases, beginning in the east and progressing west towards Warebeth, where the cable will connect with the project’s future subsea section. Once individual cable sections have been installed, specialist jointing teams will fuse them together to create one continuous cable system.
Furthermore, cladding works were completed over the summer months at the Finstown substation, and the first of the buildings is fully wind and watertight. Siemens Energy has thus begun installing the electrical equipment, with electrical installation works to continue throughout the coming year.
“This is another exciting step forward for the Orkney Link project and a major milestone in bringing this critical piece of electricity infrastructure closer to reality. Over the last two years, our teams and supply chain partners have worked hard to construct the underground cable route and install the ducting needed to accommodate the cable,” said Conor Manning , SSEN Transmission’s Interim Project Director.
“Seeing the first sections of cable now being installed is a tangible sign of the progress being made. It’s also fantastic to see the progress being made at Finstown Substation, where electrical installation works are now underway following the completion of the main building structures and cladding. Together, these milestones demonstrate the scale of activity taking place across the project as we move closer to connecting Orkney to the GB electricity transmission network for the first time.”