News & events

2015-02-12

The last section of NordBalt submarine cable has been manufactured

The remaining section of the NordBalt submarine cable has been manufactured in Karlskrona, Sweden. The total length of the cable which will interconnect the power systems of Lithuania and Sweden is 900 km.  The remaining 150km section of the cable will be laid on the seabed of the Baltic Sea from April until mid-summer. Two direct current power cables and a fibre optic cable will be laid in one jacket. The process of laying the cable will be monitored and controlled using underwater cameras and diving vehicles. The length of the power link at sea is 400 km.
 
"Our team of energy specialists and contractors are working according to schedule. The manufacturing of the cable was the key moment of the NordBalt project. The complexity of the project lies not not only in the mode of electricity transmission and technology that we use, but also in many other factors such as the depth of the sea where the cable is being laid," said Karolis Sankovski, Head of the Strategic Infrastructure Department and Member of the Board of the Lithuanian electricity transmission system operator Litgrid. 
 
The diameter of the submarine cable is over 12 centimetres, with one meter of the cable weighing about 30 kilograms.  The cable is enclosed in 11 insulated and protected layers. It was designed to minimize the loss of transmitting the electricity over a long distance. The interconnection of asynchronous power systems of Lithuania and Sweden will be based on this technology as well. This high voltage direct current (HVDC) technology will be used in Lithuania for the first time.  
 
The buildings of HVDC converter stations were built on both ends of the NordBalt cable. The converter stations is now being installed with equipment that will convert direct current into alternating current used in the power grids of Lithuania and Sweden. 
 
The last 196-tonne transformer for the NordBalt HVDC converter station was delivered last night. It will be installed beside other three NordBalt transformers. 
 
NordBalt interconnection will start operating in December this year. The capacity of the 453km interconnection will be 700 MW, which is equal to the amount of electricity consumed in Lithuania in a hot summer day. In the long term the NordBalt will bring benefits not only for the business and industry purchasing the electricity in the market and consuming about 70 percent of the electricity consumed in Lithuania but for all electricity consumers as well.