Italian TSO awards major cable contracts for new subsea interconnector

Italian transmission system operator (TSO) Terna has awarded Prysmian and Nexans with contracts for the supply of cables for the Tyrrhenian Link that will connect Sicily with Sardinia and the Italian peninsula.

Under a €1.71 billion framework contract, Prysmian is in charge of the design, supply, subsea and land installation, and commissioning of a total of over 1,500 kilometers of submarine cables to support the power exchange among Sardinia, Sicily and Campania.

The deal also includes an electrode system and an optical fiber cable for system monitoring, as well as land civil works and landfall horizontal directional drilling (HDD).

The subsea and onshore cables will be manufactured at the company’s Arco Felice plant in Naples. Cable laying will be mostly performed by cable-layer Leonardo da Vinci.

Delivery and commissioning are expected in 2025-2028.

In addition, Nexans secured a frame contract worth more than €650 million to manufacture and install 500 kilometers of 500 kV HVDC mass impregnated subsea cable and fiber optic cable for the interconnector.

According to the company, the cable will be installed at more than 2,000 meters of water depth, the deepest depth ever for a subsea power cable in the Mediterranean.

Nexans will produce the cables in its Halden plant in Norway, with cable-laying vessel Nexans Aurora in charge of the installation.

The Tyrrhenian Link will create a new electricity corridor between Sicily, Sardinia and Campania that will allow the first loop to be established between the two islands and the Italian mainland.

The new 1,000 MW interconnector is set to help Italy reach its energy transition goals, enabling three regions to increase their solar and wind power exchange capacity generated locally. This is expected support the development of renewable energy through better use of energy flows and a more efficient market.