Turnkey installation project in Barcelona successfully completed
The Group is connecting old and new generation HV cables using 220 kV transition joints for the first time in Spain.
Spain’s first installation of 220 kV transition joints has been successfully completed by an expert technical team from the High Voltage Installations & Systems Department of Prysmian Group Spain. More than 20 other specialists were involved in this project, including colleagues from Prysmian UK, as confirmed by Emili Ximenes, HV Installations & Systems Sales Manager.
This turnkey installation project was undertaken at La Sagrera AVE train station in Barcelona, which is a hub for Spain’s most important high speed rail line as well as many other rail lines and the new Line 9 metro station.
This project, awarded by ADIF (a state-owned company responsible for managing Spain’s railway Infrastructure) to RED Eléctrica includes a customised turnkey project, transportation to the site, full installation and the commissioning of three high-performance transition joints, in a 450 metre long tunnel.
“Prysmian Group is the only company able to make and install these types of transition joints for a 220kV network, also customised according to customer specification,” says Manel Mauri, R&D Engineering Manager for HV Systems.
In fact, each joint weighs around one tonne, requires specific technical know-how and highly qualified experts for both installation and transportation. These transition joints comply with the standards required by REE (Red Eléctrica de España), the owner of the HV transmission network. “With these cable transition joints Prysmian is able to connect different cable technologies, such as Oil Filled cables to XLPE cables. OF cables are becoming obsolete and are being replaced by extruded HV cables,” confirms Manel.
This project, completed on time, was the first of its kind in Spain and only the third in the world after Italy and UK. With this installation Prysmian Group confirms itself as market leader in HV cable solutions thanks to its transition joints that can connect OF cables, still used in the Spanish transmission network, with extruded cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) cables.