Prysmian Group, a company that focuses on energy and telecom cable systems, has been awarded a contract worth over €150 million by Réseau de Transport d’Électricité (RTE) for the development of two submarine and land export power cable systems to connect the offshore wind farm located in between the islands of Yeu and Noirmoutier to the French mainland power grid.
The offshore wind farm is being developed by the company Les Eoliennes en Mer d’Ile d’Yeu et Noirmoutier, which was awarded around 500 MW of capacity production by the French government. RTE, the transmission system operator appointed by the French government, will design, build, maintain and operate the two 225 kV links to connect the offshore wind farm to the grid.
The offshore wind grid connection project will be able to export 500 MW of energy, covering a submarine cable route of around 27 km and an underground cable route of around 30 km.
Prysmian will provide its turn-key approach for the design, supply, installation and commissioning of two HVAC 225 kV three-core extruded export submarine cables with single-wire armoring which will reach the landfall area at La Barre-de-Monts beach. Prysmian will be also responsible for the supply and jointing of two HVAC 225 kV extruded land cables circuits that will link the landfall area to the substation at Soullans.
Installation operations will be performed by the Cable Enterprise, one of its three cable laying vessels. Delivery and commissioning are scheduled for 2023, conditional upon receipt of the notice to proceed expected by March 2020, and by June 2020 for the overall project.
“We are proud to be contributing to the development of infrastructures of strategic importance,” says Hakan Ozmen, executive vice president of the projects business unit at Prysmian Group.
“This contract not only consolidates our relationship with RTE, but also confirms Prysmian’s goal in addressing the increasing need for upgraded power grids to support the energy transition,” he adds.
Prysmian is already providing RTE and other customers with sustainable power transmission solutions, having recently been involved in key projects in France like the Fécamp, Courseulles-sur-Mer and St. Nazaire offshore wind farms and the Provence Grand Large floating offshore wind farm.
Photo: Prysmian’s Cable Enterprise vessel
