UK and Denmark electrically connected as Prysmian installs Viking Link subsea cable

The last section of the submarine cable for the Viking Link has been installed in the North Sea, making the UK and Denmark now fully electrically connected.

This last section, laid and assembled on the seabed on 13 July, was installed 172 kilometers off the Danish coast in German and Dutch waters and took several days to complete. 

The cable is now fully established from Revsing ved Vejen, through the Jutland soil, across the seabed, and to Bicker Fen in northern England. 

“Cable installation at sea is an extremely specialized and technically difficult process to carry out, and therefore many skills and many people have been involved in such a task. Both the specific task of installing the last connecting section of the cable, but also in the overall project,” said Daniel Johan Brøndum, Senior Project Manager for the cable project at Viking Link.

“Over a period of three years, we have installed and connected more than 615 km of submarine cable – at times the waves have been high, and we have been under time pressure from the beginning. I am therefore enormously proud of the work we have done as a team and that we have been all man on deck – so to speak – over a long period.”

Viking Link is being developed by Denmark’s Energinet and the British National Grid. The 765-kilometer-long connection represents a DKK 13 billion investment and is planned to be completed at the end of 2023.

The project has the capacity to export and import 1.4 GW of electricity, equivalent to the electricity consumption of more than 1.4 million households.

Prysmian was in charge of carrying out cable installation. The Italian cabling giant completed the installation of the UK land cable section for the interconnector in February.

“The completion of the cable laying on Viking Link is a fantastic moment for both Great Britain and Denmark. After many years of planning and construction, we are fully connected – from one power grid to another – and another step closer to being able to share green energy with each other for the first time,” said CEO of Eltransmission in Energinet, Henrik Riis.

“When Viking Link is ready to go into operation at the turn of the year, the connection will help to ensure security of supply in both countries, as well as in the rest of Europe. Something that we have had to learn that we cannot take for granted, but instead must work proactively to ensure. At the same time, Viking Link helps to ensure that every green produced electron – regardless of where in Europe – is used to the full. It is something we are proud to be able to contribute to.”