Nexans nears end of activities at Greek interconnector

Nexans has completed the last pull-in of the subsea interconnector cable between the island of Crete and the Greek mainland.

Nexans is in charge of the design, manufacture and installation of the 335-kilometer subsea HVDC cable system for Ariadne Interconnection, owned by Greece’s state grid operator IPTO, under a contract won in May 2020.

The activities are being performed by the company’s cable-laying vessel Nexans Aurora.

“The ‘energy isolation‘ of Crete will soon be over! We recently completed the last pull-in of the subsea interconnector cable between the island and the Greek mainland in one of the top 5 of the most innovative interconnection DC projects in European history!” Nexans reported.

The project is set to provide security of supply for the island of Crete and enable the transition from fossil fuel generation to wind and solar energy resources.

The cable connects the Attica region on the Greek mainland to the Herakleion area in Crete.

Nexans is providing one 500 MW HVDC subsea cable system to form half of the total 1,000 MW bipole interconnection. Italian cabling giant Prysmian is in charge of the other half of the interconnection and two subsea telecom links. 

The interconnection is scheduled to come online this year.