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Successfully completion of Pentland firth east crossing project

Prysmian Group recognises the successful completion of the new Pentland Firth East cable link between the Orkney Islands and mainland Scotland by Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN), operating under licence as Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution plc (SHEPD), which is part of the SSE group.

Prysmian was awarded the contract by SSEN in 2019 to provide the submarine cable for this essential network upgrade, replacing the existing system across the Pentland Firth that had reached the end of its operational life, linking Murkle Bay, near Thurso on the Scottish mainland to Rackwick Bay on the island of Hoy. The energisation of this connection shall provide long-term assurance of secure and reliable power supply to the homes and businesses of Orkney.

The Group designed and supplied the 33 kV three-core double-wire armoured XLPE-insulated submarine cable and accessories for a total of 50 km, of which approximately 40 km was used for the replacement of the existing power connection. The cables were manufactured in Prysmian’s North European factories in Nordenham (Germany), with the cable cores being supplied by the submarine cable plant in Pikkala, Finland.

“This project confirms Prysmian Group’s ability to effectively react to our customer’s requests with accelerated solutions, demonstrating the flexibility we have to utilize our global footprint to enable the Group to serve all submarine cable markets. Thanks to our production facility in Nordenham, Germany, we have strengthened our position to serve the needs of our customers”

Hakan Ozmen

EVP Projects BU

Mark Rough, Director of Customer Operations at SSEN, said:

“The Pentland Firth East project is one of the biggest standalone projects we’ve completed in the north of Scotland and we’d like to thank our contract partners, archaeological and ecological experts, engineering teams and local suppliers for their professionalism and dedication to ensure the successful delivery of the subsea cable installation and land-based works on Hoy.”