The power transmission submarine link between Sicily
and Calabria is a milestone in terms of technological
features and installation complexity.
Prysmian Group successfully handed over
to its customer Terna Spa Rete Elettrica
Nazionale on the extra high voltage power cable link between Sicily and Calabria across the Messina straits. “We are proud to provide the best technology and know-how owned by our Group, the worldwide leader in this sector, for such a strategic link,” stated Prysmian CEO Valerio Battista.
Prysmian developed and produced a doublecircuit 380kV high voltage, alternate current land and submarine cable system installed along a route of approximately 44km – of which 38km run under sea – between the power stations of Villafranca Tirrena in Sicily and Scilla in Calabria. The project included the installation of the first permanent monitoring system, an exclusive of Prysmian, carried out by way of 18 Pry-Cam Grids devices installed along the entire land-route section.
Prysmian installed the submarine cable with its own cable laying ship Giulio Verne, the vessel with the largest operation capacity in the world in this sector. The land cables installation proved to be among the most technically complex ever completed, with operations carried out in a vertical shaft of 300m, and a 2.8kmlong, 12% gradient tunnel. The cable link was engineered and produced in the plant located in Arco Felice, near Naples. Prysmian was awarded the €300 million contract in December 2009.
