New milestone for SuedLink - cable production started in French plant

With the start of cable production at the Prysmian Group, SuedLink, the largest infrastructure project of the energy turnaround in Germany with a length of around 700 kilometres and four gigawatts of transmission capacity, has reached another milestone. Prysmian has started the production of a ±525 kV HVDC underground cable system at its French plant in Montereau, which allows a transmittable power of two gigawatts by means of a single system.

The transmission system operators TransnetBW GmbH and TenneT TSO GmbH have commissioned the globally active cable manufacturer headquartered in Milan to design, manufacture, supply and install a 580 km section of the SuedLink. It connects Wilster in Schleswig-Holstein via the north-west of Hamburg to the southern connection point in Bergrheinfeld near Schweinfurt in Bavaria. The two transmission system operators have awarded the cable supplies for SuedLink in two lots for their respective areas of responsibility. The company NKT is responsible for the connection from Brunsbüttel in Schleswig-Holstein to Leingarten in Baden-Württemberg.

Space-saving laying with high transmissible power

The ±525 kV underground cables for SuedLink are designed with large conductor cross-sections for high transmittable power over long distances. A particular advantage is minimised space consumption - the ±525 kV technology enables a reduced amount of cable to transmit the same power compared to 320 kV systems, for example. This means less construction work is required when installing the system, including trench widths.

"We are happy to now produce a first significant part of the large cable volumes that will drive the energy transition in Germany and Europe over the next years," explains Detlev Waimann, CCO Prysmian Powerlink. "Through parallel, early production in several European plants, we can - in coordination with the transmission system operators - optimise future project processes," he underlines.