UK and France strengthens electrical connexion

Prysmian, a specialist in cables for energy and telecoms, won a € 350 million contract with IFA2 SAS, a joint venture of National Grid IFA2 (a subsidiary of National Grid UK) and RTE - to design, build and install Hand a submarine cable completed with a terrestrial cable to connect Tourbe (France) to Chilling in Hampshire (UK).

The high-voltage DC (HVDC) interconnection will operate at ± 320 kV DC and will allow up to 1000 MW of power to be transferred between countries. The HVDC wiring will extend for 25 km in France, from the station of converters of Peat in the north of France to the point of disembarkment near Caen. The submarine cable for its part exceeds 200 km and will reach the south coast of the United Kingdom at Solent airport near Fareham, where is located the converter station of the United Kingdom.

In addition to the HVDC cable connection, the contract provides for the installation of a high-voltage alternating current (HVAC) cable that will connect the converter station to a local substation at Chilling (UK). This includes 2 km of land sections at each end with an underwater section of 5 km between them.