Nexans wins 146 million euros order for high voltage submarine link between Spanish mainland and Balearic Islands

Paris, France – Nexans, the worldwide leader in the cable industry, has signed a 146 million euros contract with REE (Red Electrica de España), the owner and operator of the largest part of Spain’s power transmission grids. It will manufacture, transport and install a high voltage (250kV, 500MW) DC submarine power link between the Spanish mainland and the Balearic Islands as part of the COMETA (Conexión Mediterranea de Transporte de Alta tensión) project. The COMETA cable project, worth 267 million euros in total, will be completed jointly by a consortium between Nexans and Prysmian.

The new link will be fed by Spain’s 400kV grid and will connect a power conversion station located at Sagunto, north of Valencia on the Spanish mainland, to the west coast of Majorca. This link is also designed to supply other Balearic Islands through secondary 132kV and 33kV links, including the planned Majorca-Minorca and Majorca-Ibiza-Formentera links.

As part of this project, Nexans will supply 240km of high voltage (250kV – 750mm² copper conductor) DC submarine power cable, protected by double galvanized steel wire armor in its deepwater section. No offshore joints will be required as the cable will be armored and delivered in a single length. Nexans will also supply 2x240km of fiber-optic cable (with 48 fibers).

Down to 1,410m

The selected subsea route for the new link has a maximum depth of 1,410m and over 145km of Nexans’ 240km share of the cable will lay at below 800m deep. The cables will be buried down to 800 m of water depth in order to protect them against the hostile environment.

The high voltage submarine cable should be manufactured by Nexans’ new
plant in Japan’s Tokyo bay area*, which specializes in the production of submarine power cables. Installation is expected to start in autumn 2010, with the whole project to be completed by mid 2011.

“Driven by the expansion of tourism, many island interconnection projects have been completed around the world during the past few years. Nexans played a major part in them, for example by supplying high voltage submarine links in Thailand (Ko Samui), Abu Dhabi (Delma) and China (Hainan). This is a big trend in the energy infrastructure industry and not a surprise considering the growth in world energy consumption and power grid interconnection needs. By winning the COMETA project, Nexans further demonstrates its ability to handle large energy infrastructure projects, especially by leveraging the Group’s increased production capacity,” said Patrick Barth, Nexans High Voltage business group Managing Director.

* Following the creation of the NVC joint-venture by Nexans and Viscas in July 2006, held 66% by Nexans.