Nexans Wins a 80 mil Euro Subsea HVDC Cable Contract


Nexans wins a subsea HVDC cable contract in excess of 80 million Euros for Canadian hydro power proj

Nexans, a worldwide expert in the cable industry, has been awarded by Nalcor Energy a contract in excess of 80 million Euros for a submarine high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cable in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The contract includes the manufacture, supply and laying of approximately 100 km of subsea HVDC cable and accessories to interconnect Labrador and Newfoundland, via the Strait of Belle Isle, which will deliver power from Muskrat Falls in Labrador to the island of Newfoundland.

The Nexans submarine HVDC cable form part of the new HVDC transmission link, rated at 900 MW and having a total length of 1,100 km. A key purpose and rationale for this transmission link is to put in place infrastructure to bring power from Labrador to the island portion of the province to meet the growing electricity needs in the province.

The HVDC cables will be manufactured at NVC, Nexans' factory in Tokyo, Japan.  Nexans will supply: three lengths of mass impregnated submarine power cables rated at 350 kilovolt (kV), with an integrated fibre optic element; three underground cables that will be used for the land connections at either side of the strait; accessories comprising of joints, spares, and terminations.   The subsea HVDC cables will be installed with Nexans' own installation vessel, the C/S Nexans Skagerrak.

"Nexans has a well established track record in HVDC projects, in which we have supplied more than 3,000 km of submarine cables," says Frédéric Michelland, Senior Corporate Executive Vice President of Nexans. "Following on from the recent Terna interconnection project connecting Italy with Montenegro, this contract reinforces Nexans' leading position in the global power interconnection sector and further develops our focus as a strategic supplier of high technology submarine cable solutions".