Fugro wins Terna survey for Tyrrhenian Link power cables

Dutch survey contractor Fugro has been selected by Terna, the owner of the Italian national transmission grid, to perform a large multidisciplinary survey for one part of the Tyrrhenian Link interconnector.

The Tyrrhenian Link project comprises the installation of two undersea HVDC electrical power cables to connect the Italian peninsula with the islands of Sicily and Sardinia. The interconnection is part of a 10-year plan to provide an increasingly secure and resilient electricity grid.

Fugro has won the contract to survey the East Link section of the project, which will connect Campania on the mainland to Sicily via the installation of two 480 kilometres of subsea cables and two subsea electrodes.

The reconnaissance multibeam survey will begin in March 2021, according to Fugro, and will be followed by a detailed marine geophysical survey using the company’s remote operation vehicles (ROVs) and team of specialists.

Both surveys will acquire comprehensive geo-data that will be used to provide geohazard risk mitigation advice to help Terna identify the final cable installation routes, Fugro noted.

Rodolfo D’Addario, Country Manager for Fugro in Italy, said: “The Tyrrhenian Link interconnection is strategically important infrastructure for Italy’s energy transition and the results from our surveys will help Terna design the most cost-efficient and feasible route. The ‘invisible’ undersea cables will increase transmission capacity and allow the best use of energy flows from renewable sources for an increasingly decarbonised system”.

The Tyrrhenian Link is a strategic project for the Italian electricity system for which Terna will invest approximately €3.7 billion over the next few years, and as a result involve 250 companies.

The new interconnection involves the construction of two undersea power lines (one from Campania to Sicily and one from Sicily to Sardinia) for a total of 950 kilometres of 1000MW direct current connection.