MMT has begun the offshore geophysical survey of the proposed cable corridor between the landfall areas near Portsmouth, England, and Dieppe, France, for the Aquind Interconnector project.
MMT will use M/V Franklin for offshore works and M/V Seabeam for nearshore works, both equipped with multibeam echo sounders, side-scan sonars and sub-bottom profilers.
According to MMT, the survey results will inform the UK and French authorities on Aquind’s final route selection and support planning applications.
The two companies maintain ongoing contact with UK and French fisheries, which may be affected by the survey, in order to mitigate any potential impact on their fishing activities, MMT said, adding that Aquind and its advisors are liaising with relevant consent granting bodies in both countries to ensure that the survey scope complies with applicable standards.
Stefan Eliasson , MMT’s CEO, said: “We are delighted to have the opportunity to support the AQUIND Interconnector project work and look forward to working with the Aquind Team to deliver a successful marine survey campaign along the proposed cable corridor. This shows that MMT can provide our customer with effective, high quality survey solutions meeting their high requirements.”
Aquind Interconnector is a new proposed subsea and underground High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) power transmission link between the south coast of England and Normandy in France.
With its 2,000MW capacity, the interconnector will transmit 16,000,000MWh of electricity each year between the two connected countries, which is 5 percent and 3 percent of the total consumption of Great Britain and France respectively, i.e. consumption by millions of households.
According to Aquind, by linking the British and French electric power grids, the interconnector will make energy markets more efficient, improve security of supply and enable greater flexibility as power grids evolve to adapt to different sources of renewable energy and changes in demand trends.