Prysmian completes one of the world’s longest submarine interconnector ahead of schedule
The contract awarded to Prysmian in 2015 by Statnett SF and National Grid NSN Link Ltd involves the turnkey supply and installation of some 950 km of Mass Impregnated submarine and land HVDC cable (1400MW, ± 525kV). All cables were manufactured in one of Prysmian Group's centres of technological and manufacturing excellence for submarine cables, the Arco Felice plant. Marine cable laying activities were mainly performed by the Group’s Giulio Verne vessel, leveraging on its proven capability to handle extremely long cables and to install at great depths.
“We won the project partly as a result of our cable technology, manufacturing capability, and our vessel used to install the cable. The original plan was to complete the work just in time for commissioning”
Carol Webb
NSL Project Director
Close collaboration with stakeholders was established at the outset of the project, resulting in the ‘NSL Charter’. This underlined the importance of working as a team, which proved essential in managing and resolving challenges at an early stage. “Although the technology was well established, the sheer volume of cable required and the multi-year installation program meant we had to carefully consider all risks. Carefully managing planning and collaboration with the contractors and all parties involved ensured they would be available to perform work precisely when required. We had to ensure the manufactured cable would pass all required factory testing the first time, which they did.
The outbreak of COVID-19 posed a significant challenge to project completion. Early in 2020, it became apparent that significant measures were required to ensure the highest standard of health and safety measures for the project team while keeping to the planning. In March 2020, risk assessments were carried out for all potential scenarios that could result from COVID-19 in collaboration with NSL project team and the subcontractors. Extensive collaborative workshops with National Grid and Statnett helped determine the most suitable way forward. Following these risk assessments Prysmian updated the vessel rules and implemented a number of mitigation measures, such as quarantine of personnel, isolated travel between ports and airports, enhanced PPE and cleaning of the vessel quarters. Everyone adopted the new ways of working right away.
In October 2020, Prysmian received the certificate marking the completion of the work. Official commissioning is planned for Q3 2021, and Carol is confident that any remaining challenges are normal and manageable.
"As the industry moves forward, clients will be increasingly looking to shorten the time from awarding a contract to completion of the work. We can focus on this to retain our competitive advantage."
“Our success on this project is also the result of the experience and contributions of the international team that worked tirelessly for five years, and the strong relationship and collaboration with National Grid and Statnett. I am happy to state that the client has expressed their satisfaction and commented on how well we had performed in spite of the challenges of the pandemic.”
Carol Webb
NSL Project Director