HVDC
A high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electric power transmission system (also called a power superhighway or an electrical superhighway) uses direct current (DC) for electric power transmission, in contrast with the more common alternating curre ...
Richborough Energy Park
Richborough Energy Park is a site of non-traditional power generation, on the site of the former Richborough power station close to the mouth of the River Stour near Sandwich, on the east coast of Kent, England.
Site history
The original Rich ...
in
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, the United Kingdom and
Zeebrugge
Zeebrugge (, from: ''Brugge aan zee'' meaning "Bruges at Sea", french: Zeebruges) is a village on the coast of Belgium and a subdivision of Bruges, for which it is the modern port. Zeebrugge serves as both the international port of Bruges-Zee ...
, Belgium. The project is a
joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...
Elia
Elia is a name which may be a variant of the names Elias, Elijah, Eli or Eliahu, and may refer to:
People
* Aelia (gens) or Elia, a ''gens'' of Ancient Rome
Mononymic
* Elia or Elijah, a biblical prophet
* Elia, a pen-name of Charles Lamb
First ...
. The electrical
interconnector
An interconnector (also known as a DC tie in the USA) is a structure which enables high voltage DC electricity to flow between electrical grids. An electrical interconnector allows electricity to flow between separate AC networks, or to link sy ...
is the first between the two countries, capable of transmitting up to 1,000 MW at 400 kV for an annual transmission capacity of 8.76TWh. The link has been fully operational since 31 January 2019.
History
In 2015, contracts totalling €500million were awarded to
Siemens
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.
The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...
for the construction of the two onshore
HVDC converter station
An HVDC converter station (or simply converter station) is a specialised type of substation which forms the terminal equipment for a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line.Arrillaga, Jos; High Voltage Direct Current Transmission, se ...
s and to J-Power Systems Corporation for the cable system. The contract for the laying of the actual cable was awarded to
DeepOcean
DeepOcean is an Oslo, Norway - based company which provides subsea services to the global offshore industries such as Inspection Maintenance and Repair (IMR), Subsea Construction, Cable Lay, and Subsea Trenching. Its 1,100 employees project mana ...
who completed the work in 2017 and 2018.
Route
The total cable length is of which is under water, buried at a depth of up to . The offshore section runs from
Pegwell Bay
Pegwell Bay is a shallow inlet in the English Channel coast astride the estuary of the River Stour north of Sandwich Bay, between Ramsgate and Sandwich in Kent. Part of the bay is a nature reserve, with seashore habitats including mudflats and ...
on the UK side to Zeebrugge beach in Belgium. The onshore cable in Belgium is nearly long and connects the landing point of the submarine cable in Zeebrugge beach to the converter station in Herdersbrug. In the United Kingdom there is of land cable from Pegwell Bay to the
Richborough
Richborough () is a settlement north of Sandwich on the east coast of the county of Kent, England. Richborough lies close to the Isle of Thanet. The population of the settlement is included in the civil parish of Ash.
Although now some dist ...
converter station.
See also
*
HVDC Cross-Channel
The HVDC Cross-Channel (french: Interconnexion France Angleterre IFA 2000) is the 73 km long high-voltage direct current (HVDC) interconnector that operates since 1986 under the English Channel between the continental European grid at Bonningues ...
, 2,000 MW between UK and France
*
BritNed
BritNed is a 1,000MW high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) submarine power cable between the Isle of Grain in Kent, the United Kingdom; and Maasvlakte in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
The BritNed interconnector would serve as a link for the foresee ...