News & events

2012-12-14

First 100 km cable ready for the NordBalt interconnection

Sweden has manufactured 100 km of high-voltage, direct current cable, which will be stretched along the bottom of the Baltic Sea. The length of the NordBalt interconnection between the electricity systems of Lithuania and Sweden will be approximately 450 kilometres. The interconnection will consist of two cables stretched side by side, giving a total of 900 kilometres of cable.
 
“NordBalt will be the first sea interconnection in Lithuanian energy history. We are pleased that all work takes place in due time and according to the plan,” says Virgilijus Poderys, CEO of Litgrid. “The operation of the Lithuanian and Swedish interconnection should be launched as anticipated, in December 2015.”
 
“ABB, the group of Swedish energy and automation companies, is in charge of manufacturing the engineering components necessary for the interconnection,” says Thomas Worzyk, leading engineer on the NordBalt cable. “NordBalt will be the third-longest underwater interconnection in the world. We aspire to ensure an uninterrupted electricity supply through this interconnection, so every single metre of the cable has to meet quality requirements.”
 
The preparation for building the interconnection also covers further surveys of the interconnection route at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. A full survey of the route was finalised in 2009 and certain sections are currently undergoing more detailed surveys, as well as specification of the locations of intersection with existing infrastructure such as cables and pipelines.
 
The entire cable will be stretched by modern vessels designed for infrastructure work in the sea in 2014-2015. It will be stretched along the bottom of the Baltic Sea and on land, with 13 km in Klaipėda County in Lithuania and 40 km in Sweden. The cables will be stretched on land by excavating trenches of 1.5 m in depth and 2 m in width. In places where trenches cannot be excavated, the cable will be stretched by drilling a channel in the ground. Klaipėda and Nybro substations will be equipped with direct current converters, to which the cable will be connected.