Nemo Link

Nemo Link is a 1,000MW HVDC submarine power cable between Richborough Energy Park in Kent, the United Kingdom and Zeebrugge, Belgium. The project is a joint venture between British National Grid and Belgian Elia. The 400kV electrical interconnector is the first between the two countries, with an annual transmission capacity of 8.76TWh. The link has been fully operational since 31 January 2019, and has transported 29 TWh during its first 5 years; 24.75 TWh to the UK and 4.25 to Belgium with an availability above 99%.

History

In 2015, contracts totalling €500million were awarded to Siemens for the construction of the two onshore HVDC converter stations and to J-Power Systems Corporation for the cable system. The contract for the laying of the actual cable was awarded to DeepOcean who completed the work in 2017 and 2018.

Route

The total cable length is of which is under water, buried at a depth of up to. The offshore section runs from Pegwell Bay on the UK side to Zeebrugge beach in Belgium. The onshore cable in Belgium is nearly long and connects the landing point of the submarine cable in Zeebrugge beach to the converter station in Herdersbrug. In the United Kingdom there is of land cable from Pegwell Bay to the Richborough converter station.