Jan De Nul to install Greenlink Interconnector

Jan De Nul has won a contract with Sumitomo Electric Industries for the installation of two subsea HVDC cables and one fiber optic cable for the Greenlink Interconnector between Ireland and the UK.

The subsea cable route for the 500 MW Greenlink Interconnector is about 160 kilometers long between County Wexford in Ireland and Pembrokeshire in Wales. 

Jan De Nul is responsible for the end-to-end subsea cable laying and cable protection works.

On the shore sides, the company will perform the horizontal directional drillings (HDD) starting later this year. The offshore installation campaigns will be performed in 2023 and 2024.

Cable-laying vessel Connector will install the subsea cables which will predominantly be buried in the seabed. Where the seabed does not allow burial, the cables will be protected by the installation of rock or concrete mattresses on top of the cables.

“We are honoured to work alongside Sumitomo Electric to establish this important link for the electricity grids between Ireland and UK. Jan De Nul and Sumitomo Electric have been developing the installation solution in close collaboration over the last 2 years and we are now ready to fully engage in the actual realisation of it,” Wouter Vermeersch, Manager Offshore Cables at Jan De Nul.

The consortium of Sumitomo Electric and Siemens Energy secured the contract for Greenlink in September 2021. They will provide the design, engineering, procurement, production, construction, and commissioning of an HVDC subsea/underground electricity interconnector cable, with associated converter stations.

The Greenlink project is known as the first privately-financed interconnector in Europe supported under the Cap and Floor regulatory regimes in the UK and Ireland and represents a total investment of over €500 million.

Being awarded the status of Project of Common Interest by the European Union, Greenlink is said to be one of Europe’s most important energy infrastructure projects, bringing green electricity to approximately 380,000 homes.

The 190-kilometer long interconnector is due for commissioning in 2024.