COBRAcable back in business

The COBRAcable interconnector between Dutch and Danish electricity networks is back in operation, Tennet reported on Friday.

The 700 MW submarine interconnector was out of operation due to a failure in the cable since the end of September.

The repair operation has been successful, enabling the import and export of renewable electricity between Denmark and the Netherlands via the 325 kilometres long link.

The repair operations saw the cable cut at a depth of 40 metres on the seabed and lifted.

Following the inspection, the piece of cable where the fault has been located was removed and replaced.

The last few days, the cable has been tested, laid back and buried two metres deep in the seabed.

COBRAcable is a 320 kV, 700 MW HVDC submarine power cable pair between Eemshaven, the Netherlands and Endrup near Esbjerg, Denmark.

Owned by Energinet.dk and TenneT, its purpose is to improve the European transmission grid and thus increase the amount of variable wind power in the system while improving supply reliability.

The interconnector consists of two parallel cables each with a diameter of 13 centimetres and also includes fiber-optic communication.

The COBRAcable design enables the connection of an offshore wind farm at a later stage.