Jan De Nul making headway on landmark $3.8B Middle Eastern interconnection project

Jan De Nul has completed the installation of a portion of cables for what is described as the first-of-its-kind HVDC submarine cable project in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, set to connect ADNOC’s offshore operations to TAQA’s clean onshore power network.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and Abu Dhabi National Energy Company PJSC (TAQA) reached the financial closing of the $3.8 billion Lightning project in September 2022. It was then reported that the project was to be commissioned in 2025.

The main purpose of the HVDC link is to power and decarbonize ADNOC’s offshore production operations by replacing the company’s current offshore power with a green onshore power source, reducing its environmental impact and CO2 emissions, in addition to supporting its objective to decarbonize offshore production operations.

With a capacity of 3.2 GW, the Lighting project will be the most powerful power-from-shore solution in the MENA region to date, as well as the first HVDC power-from-shore solution outside Norwegian waters.

Under the contract described as the largest cable installation contract in its history, Jan De Nul is in charge of the design, installation, burial and protection of two cable clusters of nearly 1,000 kilometres of submarine cables between the islands of Al Ghallan and Das in the Arabian Gulf and the onshore converter stations at Al Mirfa and Shuweihat in Abu Dhabi to transport renewable power.

In its 2024 financial results report, Jan De Nul revealed it had already installed three cables, each 140 kilometres long, as well as buried part of them in the seabed and covered the other part with rocks for protection.

The company also reported it had installed 23 pipelines on the Al Ghallan island so that the cable could be pulled in on land.

The consortium comprising Korea Electric Power (KEPCO), Kyushu Electric Power Company (Kyuden) and Électricité de France (EDF) is building and will own, operate and transfer the transmission system alongside ADNOC and TAQA, with the full project being returned to ADNOC after 35 years of operation.

Hitachi Energy is supplying four converter stations for the two HVDC links, between Mirfa and Al Ghallan and between Shuweihat and Das.