New interconnectors on the road to EU ‘Energy Union’

A new European electricity interconnector has been inaugurated and the final investment decision made on another, as the EU announced plans for its Member States to be able to transmit at least 10% of their power across national borders by 2020 as part of a new ‘Energy Union’.

Spain and France will be able to import and export more electricity following the completion of a 2 GW, 320 kV underground High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) interconnector between the two countries. The link was built by Prysmian Group for INELFE – a joint venture of the Spanish and French Transmission System Operators (TSOs) Red Electrica de España (REE) and Réseau de Transport d’Électricité (RTE).

The 64 km link comprises two 1 GW bipolar circuits between substations in Baixas (near Perpignan, in France) and Santa Llogaia (near Figueres, in Spain). A purpose-built tunnel was drilled through the Pyrenees for a 9 km section of the link. Prysmian manufactured 252 km of cables in France for the project.

The interconnector will allow Spain and France to diversify their sources of electricity supply and will also enhance energy market integration in south-west Europe. This is particularly useful for Spain, increasing the export potential of its renewables into Europe. The EU funded around 35% of the €700mn project, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Elsewhere, the final investment decision has been made for the NordLink project – which will be the first ever interconnector between Norway and Germany.

Norwegian and German TSOs Statnett and TenneT together with German bank KfW decided to go ahead with the project, which has been on the drawing board since 2012. Cable specialist Nexans will manufacture and install the 1.4 GW, 525 kV HVDC link, providing around 700 km of cable for the project.

The subsea link, due for completion in 2019, will be laid in trenches on the seabed at up to 450 m water depth. It is Nexans’ largest subsea power cable contract to date.

The EU has set a 2020 electricity interconnection target of at least 10% for its Member States in an effort to integrate EU energy markets as part of its wider Energy Union proposals.

An EU-wide electricity market is a key part of the EU’s ‘Energy Union’ strategy, which was unveiled by the European Commission at the end of February. The strategy is based around energy ‘resilience’ in a Europe Union that also has a ‘forward-looking climate change policy.’ An interconnection communication from the European Commission was released with the Energy Union strategy outlining projects necessary to close the interconnection gap by 2020. Twelve of the EU’s 28 Member States are currently below the 10% target.