Marine surveys full steam ahead at second Malta-Italy link

Fugro has completed the geophysical analysis of the proposed seabed route of the second Malta-Italy interconnector.

The activities, completed last week, took place between Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq, Malta, and Ragusa, Sicily, and were executed on board the 60-meter survey vessel Urbano Monti.

This preliminary marine route survey will now continue with the extraction of seabed samples to determine the cable burial methods and to obtain geological data for the project’s environmental studies.

The project is being developed by the government-owned InterConnect Malta.

The second Malta-Sicily cable link is part of the Maltese Government’s future energy strategy for meeting the 2030 climate and energy targets and the longer-term decarbonization objectives.

The interconnector will consist of a subsea and onshore cable link between the Maghtab terminal station, operated by Enemalta, and the Ragusa 220kV substation in Sicily, operated by Terna.

Similar to the first electrical link, it will have a nominal continuous rating capacity of 200MW and will be able to operate in a bi-directional mode, generally importing electricity from Sicily, but being technically able to transmit electricity from Malta to Sicily should excess electricity produced in Malta be available in the future.

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