The first 100km of subsea cable has been successfully installed in the North Sea as part of SSEN Transmission’s landmark Shetland High Voltage Direct-Current link project.Starting in July, the subsea HVDC cable was successfully pulled-in to where it makes landfall at Noss Head near Wick from aboard the specialist cable-laying vessel NKT Victoria, and was carefully installed onto the seabed as the vessel made its way out to sea to a point east of the Orkney Isles. Once the cable was installed on the seabed, where possible it was trenched into position using Grand Canyon III, a multi-role construction support vessel with a specialist subsea jet trencher.The successful installation of the first 100km of cable required careful coordination between the NKT Victoria, multiple subsea divers as well as the shoreside cable pull-in team at Caithness, who worked to install the cable through the previously constructed horizontal directional drilled (HDD) ducts at Noss Head in Caithness.Back onshore, teams have also completed the installation of the HVDC cables in Shetland, marking another major milestone for the project with all onshore HVDC cables now installed.The GBP 660 million projects will involve constructing a 260km subsea cable from Shetland to the GB mainland, linking Shetland to the national grid for the first time, as well as unlocking Shetland’s potential for future renewable energy generation.
The first 100km of subsea cable has been successfully installed in the North Sea as part of SSEN Transmission’s landmark Shetland High Voltage Direct-Current link project.Starting in July, the subsea HVDC cable was successfully pulled-in to where it makes landfall at Noss Head near Wick from aboard the specialist cable-laying vessel NKT Victoria, and was carefully installed onto the seabed as the vessel made its way out to sea to a point east of the Orkney Isles. Once the cable was installed on the seabed, where possible it was trenched into position using Grand Canyon III, a multi-role construction support vessel with a specialist subsea jet trencher.The successful installation of the first 100km of cable required careful coordination between the NKT Victoria, multiple subsea divers as well as the shoreside cable pull-in team at Caithness, who worked to install the cable through the previously constructed horizontal directional drilled (HDD) ducts at Noss Head in Caithness.Back onshore, teams have also completed the installation of the HVDC cables in Shetland, marking another major milestone for the project with all onshore HVDC cables now installed.The GBP 660 million projects will involve constructing a 260km subsea cable from Shetland to the GB mainland, linking Shetland to the national grid for the first time, as well as unlocking Shetland’s potential for future renewable energy generation.
