News & events

2020-11-26

Seabed Survey for the Harmony Link Cable Due to Start

PSE and Litgrid, transmission system operators in Poland and Lithuania, have signed an agreement with the consortium composed of MEWO S.A., Gdynia Maritime University, and Garant Diving UAB for the seabed survey in the Baltic Sea along the route of the planned Harmony Link cable project, which will connect Poland and Lithuania.
 
Under the agreement, the consortium shall carry out geophysical and geotechnical surveys of the seabed along the planned cable route between the Polish and Lithuanian coasts in the Baltic Sea. The resulting report will describe the seabed conditions along the planned cable route and shall provide necessary information for cable laying and protection strategy.
 
The survey shall also enable detection of objects such as wreckage, UXO (unexploded ordnance), or other hazardous debris deposited in the seabed. The work is due to start by the end of this year.
 
The MEWO-led consortium has submitted the winning bid in the tendering procedure. MEWO s.a. is a Polish company with international experience in the implementation of similar projects, including seabed surveys for offshore wind farms, pipelines and telecommunication cables.
 
According to the agreement, the survey shall be finished in the third quarter of 2021. Works are expected to have no impact on the marine ecology of the Baltic Sea.
 
Currently PSE and Litgrid are conducting spatial planning and environmental impact assessment process, while also preparing tendering documents for the construction of the cable and converter stations.
 
Once completed, Harmony Link will be a submarine cable power line of approx. 330 km in length (of which approx. 290 km will be offshore),  which will connect the Żarnowiec substation in Polish Pomerania with the future Darbėnai substation in Lithuania. The interconnector will be based on High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) technology and will provide transmission capacity of 700 MW. It is expected to complete construction in 2025. Harmony Link will be the second electricity interconnection between Poland and Lithuania – since 2016, the LitPol Link overhead power line has been in operation, connecting the Elk substation in Poland and the Alytus substation in Lithuania. The submarine cable will improve the region’s energy security by contributing to synchronization of the power systems of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia with the Continental Europe Synchronous Area. The project is co-financed under the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).