Harmony Link picks seabed survey crew

PSE and Litgrid, transmission system operators in Poland and Lithuania, have signed an agreement with the consortium composed of MEWO, Gdynia Maritime University, and Garant Diving UAB for the seabed survey in the Baltic Sea along the route of the planned Harmony Link cable project, which will connect Poland and Lithuania.

Under the agreement, the consortium will carry out geophysical and geotechnical surveys.

The resulting report will describe the seabed conditions and provide necessary information for cable laying and protection strategy.

The survey will also enable detection of objects such as wreckage, UXO, or other hazardous debris deposited in the seabed.

The work is due to start by the end of this year.

The survey should wrap up in the third quarter of 2021. Also, the works should not have any impact on the marine ecology of the Baltic Sea.

Currently PSE and Litgrid are conducting spatial planning and environmental impact assessment process. Tendering documents for the construction of the cable and converter stations are also in preparation.

Once completed, Harmony Link will be a submarine interconnector of approximately 330 kilometres, of which approximately 290 kilometres offshore.

The interconnector will be based on High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) technology and will provide transmission capacity of 700 MW.

Harmony Link will be the second electricity interconnection between Poland and Lithuania – since 2016, the LitPol Link overhead power line has been in operation, connecting the Elk substation in Poland and the Alytus substation in Lithuania.

The submarine cable should boost the region’s energy security by contributing to synchronization of the power systems of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia with the Continental Europe Synchronous Area.

The project is co-financed under the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).