Offshore installation activities begin to connect Sicily to Sardinia and Italian peninsula

Italian cabling company Prysmian Group has kicked off the offshore installation activities for an interconnector that will link Sicily to Sardinia and to the Italian peninsula.

The €3.7 billion Tyrrhenian Link, developed by Italy’s transmission system operator (TSO) Terna, will connect Sicily with Sardinia and the Italian peninsula through a double submarine HVDC cable link with a power capacity of 1,000 MW and a total length of about 970 kilometers.

Prysmian reported today, February 7, that its cable laying vessel (CLV) Leonardo da Vinci had commenced the offshore installation activities for the project.

“For Prysmian, but also for the entire sector, this is a record installation: for the first time, an HVDC cable will be laid at a depth of 2,150 meters, setting new market standards,” the Italian company said.

Tyrrhenian Link involves two sections, including the East section from Sicily to Campania and the West from Sicily to Sardinia.

The East section is 490 kilometers long and connects the Fiumetorto landing point, in the municipality of Termini Imerese in Sicily, with the landing point in Torre Tuscia Magazzeno, near Battipaglia in Campania.

The West section is 480 kilometers long and connects the Fiumetorto landing point to the Terra Mala landing point in Sardinia.

Prysmian’s new CLV Monna Lisa just recently joined its fleet. The cable layer’s maiden assignment will be on the $5 billion Eastern Green Link 2 (EGL2) project, a joint venture between SSEN Transmission and National Grid, said to be the longest HVDC cable connection ever built in Great Britain.