ABB Exhibits 420 kV Three-Core Submarine Cable in Hanover, Germany

At the 2013 Hanover Fair, ABB is exhibiting a piece of the world’s highest-rated three-core submarine cable. The AC cable will be installed on the “Little Belt”, the strait between the Danish island of Fünen and the Jutland peninsula, which links the North and Baltic Seas.

In conjunction with a 420 kilovolts (kV) land cable system – also on show at the ABB booth – the cable system will there be replacing an overhead transmission line route. This is part of a project initiated by the government to replace overhead lines by cables in ecologically sensitive areas.

In February 2012, ABB received the order from the Danish transmission system operator Energinet.dk to deliver and install this cable system, comprising a total of 30 kilometers (km) of 420-kV single-core underground cables and 15 km in all of the 420-kV three-core cable. Due to the quantity of electricity to be transmitted, there are two submarine cables laid parallely, each of them able to transmit more than 500 Megawatt (MW). ABB is required to supply a turnkey system, i.e. besides design, production and installation of the requisite cables, the company is also responsible for the cable termination and for the sea cable laying of the cables. When the project has been completed, in the autumn of 2013, then it will be the world’s highest-rated three-core submarine cable system.

While on land three single-core underground cables are laid in parallel, three-conductor cables are customarily used for AC submarine cables. This reduces not only the costs for the laying work, but also the amount of space required on the seabed. ABB produces the entire submarine cable in one piece, so that no joints have to be used when laying it. This is possible only thanks to the very sophisticated production processes that are used in the cable factory in Karlskrona, Sweden.

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Press release, April 8, 2013; Image: ABB