ABL to provide marine warranty survey for French-Spanish subsea interconnector

ABL, part of the Oslo-listed energy and marine consultancy ABL Group, has secured a contract from INELFE (INterconexión ELéctrica Francia-España), a joint venture between the Spanish transmission system operator (TSO) Red Eléctrica and the French counterpart RTE, to provide marine warranty survey (MWS) services to oversee the offshore transportation and installation (T&I) of the Biscay interconnector between France and Spain.

ABL said that its scope of work involves reviewing technical documents, procedures, drawings, and calculations for warranted operations. The company will conduct suitability surveys of the proposed fleet, including dynamic positioning (DP) trials if necessary, and provide on-site attendance at offshore operations. 

The project has been assigned to ABL’s Paris office in France, with support from ABL’s MWS teams in France and Spain.

“Interconnectors play an increasingly crucial role in our modern energy systems. They enhance our energy security, improve cost and energy efficiency, and facilitate greater renewable energy integration into electrical systems,” said Hugues Delanoue, Managing Director of ABL in France.

“Our track-record covers experience supporting the construction of some of the world’s most significant interconnector projects in Europe, Americas, Middle East and Asia Pacific. In short, we have the experience and the technical expertise to support this challenging project.”

The project, co-financed by the European Union (EU) and designated as a project of common interest (PCI), involves installing interconnections between the Gatika substation near Bilbao, Spain, and the Cubnezais substation in Aquitaine, France. It will include four cables (two per link) with a total transmission capacity of 2,000 MW, and the project will result in the installation of nearly 400 kilometers of mainly subsea high voltage direct current (HVDC) cables.

Once commissioned, the project will increase the interconnection capacities between Spain and France from 2.8 GW to 5 GW.

Construction of this first interconnector between France and Spain began in October 2023. The works are expected to take place until 2027. The project will have a budget of €2,850 million that will be shared between Spain, with 54%, and France with the remaining 46%. In addition, the EU will contribute €800 million.