Siemens, J–Power Systems Get NEMO LINK Contract

NEMO LINK announced the two winning contractors who will build the first electricity interconnector between Great Britain and Belgium. They are Siemens and J–Power Systems, the Japan-based company, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.

The contracts are together valued at about €500m (USD556.4m). Siemens will build the converter stations in both Kent and Zeebrugge using their HVDC Plus technology and they will have a 5 year service and maintenance agreement.

J-Power systems will design, manufacture and install the HVDC XLPE cable system – the first time it will be used operationally as a High Voltage Direct Current link at 400kV.

NEMO LINK is the joint venture between National Grid and Elia, the Belgium Transmission System Operator, to deliver the 1000MW subsea link between the two countries. It will run 140 kilometers and will provide enough electricity to power half a million homes.

Markus Berger NEMO LINK board member said: “We are delighted that Siemens and J-Power Systems have won these contracts. The use of this state-of-the-art cable technology allied to the very efficient converter stations will make NEMO LINK the most innovative interconnector in Europe, bringing new supplies of competitively-priced electricity to the market.”

Sadao Fukunaga, J-Power Systems Corporation president said: “This is a great honour for us. It is the first time the state-of-the-art HVDC cable technology of Japan will be adopted in such an important European infrastructure project. Our long term experience of similar projects will help us to deliver NEMO LINK successfully and on time.”

Siemens will be responsible for the turnkey installation of both converter stations delivering 1000 MW with a transmission voltage of 400 kV DC.

“We are very pleased to be working with NEMO LINK on another HVDC landmark project that will support the integration of the European energy market,” said Tim Dawidowsky, CEO of the Transmission Solutions Business Unit at Siemens. “Siemens is a world leader in highvoltage direct current transmission and has installed projects in its HVDC Plus technology with a total capacity of 4.6 Gigawatt worldwide.”

The engineering design work and site preparation should begin later this year and it’s anticipated that the interconnector will go intocommercial operation in 2019.

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