NKT marks key milestone in Greek power cable project, reports progress on Taiwan’s first subsea cable factory

Denmark-headquartered power cable manufacturer and installation company NKT has achieved one of the final milestones for Greece’s Attica-Crete power cable project with the completion of the site acceptance test.

Described as the largest electricity transmission project in Greece, with a budget exceeding €1.1 billion, the Crete-Attica electrical interconnection was completed at the end of 2024, with operations expected to begin in the spring of 2025.

NKT reported that after almost four and a half years since the contract signing, it had completed the site acceptance test for the power cable project, with its cable system consisting of 500 kV HVDC mass impregnated and MVDC onshore power cables fully installed.

The cable link connects the Attica region on the Greek mainland to the Heraklion area in Crete, thanks to Nexans providing one 500 MW HVDC subsea cable system to form half of the bipole interconnection and Prysmian handling the other half of the interconnection and two subsea telecom links.

Greek transmission system operator (TSO) Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO or ADMIE) said the project ranks among the three deepest interconnections worldwide and with a capacity of 1,000 MW leads in power transfer capacity for island systems, ensuring energy security for Crete and reducing annual CO2 emissions by 500,000 tons.

A wholly owned principal subsidiary of Chinese state-owned electric utility corporation State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) recently purchased a 20% share in Ariadne Interconnection, thereby entering the interconnector.

In other recent news coming from NKT, the company reported some five days ago that significant progress had been made in the construction of Taiwan’s first subsea cable factory it is building in a joint venture with Walsin Energy Cable System (WECS).

According to the Danish company, there are several critical activities lined up for the rest of the year, with the outer shell of the factory soon to be completed, and then the focus will be on installing and commissioning key machines.

Located in Kaohsiung in the south of Taiwan, the groundbreaking ceremony for the Kaohsiung Submarine Cable Factory was held in September 2023, with the facility expected to be completed this year and fully operational by 2027.

“The factory is being built with the extensive knowledge and experience from our two factories in Karlskrona and Cologne in mind. We have transitioned from the planning phase and are now deeply engaged in the construction and machine installation process. All essential equipment is either in manufacturing, in transit, or already in Taiwan for assembly and installation,” said Jonas Alfson, Director of Special Projects at NKT.