German TSOs TenneT and TransnetBW have selected NKT and Prysmian to supply and install two 525 kV XLPE insulated underground cables for the SuedLink. The two cable manufacturers will each provide a 2 GW HVDC underground interconnector. The contract has been valued around €2 billion in total.
Suedlink is a 750 km link to connect Germany’s wind resources, primarily in the Baltic and North seas, with the major load centres in the south of the country. The link starts in northern Germany where it connects to power from offshore wind farms, and also to the Nordlink interconnector, which brings hydro power from Norway to Germany.
‘In the future, SuedLink will form the backbone of the energy transition in Germany. With the orders for the DC underground cables, we are now moving from planning to realising this important power connection,’ commented Tim Meyerjürgens, managing director of TenneT.
NKT will provide one of two power cable systems, with a ‘specially engineered’ solution for the power cable to cross the Elbe river and the site of a salt mine, under a contract worth over €1000 million.
Prysmian will supply the other cable, with a length of around 700 km, to run from Wilster in Schleswig-Holstein, north-west of Hamburg, to the southern connection point at Bergrheinfeld, close to Schweinfurt in Bavaria. The contract is worth over €800 million.
Project completion for both cables is expected in 2026. They will be manufactured at NKT's facilities in Cologne, Germany, and Karlskrona, Sweden, and at the Prysmian facilities in Gron and Montereau (France) and Pikkala (Finland).
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