Cable-laying vessel

Worldwide cable industry expert Nexans has been awarded a €80m contract by Nalcor Energy for a submarine high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cable in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada. The contract includes the manufacture, supply and laying of approximately 100km of subsea HVDC cable and accessories, to deliver power from Muskrat Falls in Labrador to the island of Newfoundland via the Strait of Belle Isle.

Nexans wins 180 million Euro turnkey contract for the Estlink 2 power submarine link between Finland and EstoniaThe Nexans submarine HVDC cable form part of the new HVDC transmission link, rated at 900 MW and having a total length of 1,100 km. A key purpose and rationale for this transmission link is to put in place infrastructure to bring power from Labrador to the island portion of the province to meet the growing electricity needs in the province.

The HVDC cables will be manufactured at NVC, Nexans’ factory in Tokyo, Japan. Nexans will supply: three lengths of mass impregnated submarine power cables rated at 350 kilovolt (kV), with an integrated fibre optic element; three underground cables that will be used for the land connections at either side of the strait; accessories comprising of joints, spares, and terminations.
The subsea HVDC cables will be installed with Nexans’ own installation vessel, the C/S Nexans Skagerrak.

"Nexans has a well established track record in HVDC projects, in which we have supplied more than 3,000 km of submarine cables," says Frédéric Michelland, Senior Corporate Executive Vice President of Nexans. "Following on from the recent Terna interconnection project connecting Italy with Montenegro, this contract reinforces Nexans’ leading position in the global power interconnection sector and further develops our focus as a strategic supplier of high technology submarine cable solutions".