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Belgium and UK to share electricity in underwater cable project

10:20 20/01/2018
Electricity providers from Belgium and the UK are trying to connect the two countries with an underwater electrical cable, but first they need to clean up the seabed of dangerous leftovers

With the launch of the Nemo Link project in 2019, Belgium and the UK will be able to exchange electricity through two gigantic underwater cables installed in the English Channel and the North Sea.

As part of the preparations, potentially dangerous objects, including underwater bombs and mines dating back to the two world wars, must be removed from the seabed. The Norwegian ship Olympic Intervention IV has been tasked with locating any hazardous leftovers near the Flemish coast. The British and French sides of the Channel have already been cleared.

“The soil is checked with magnetic sensors,” explains Bert Maes, CEO of Nemo Link. “We have already found about 12,000 objects, including 1,200 potentially dangerous ones.”

Among the harmless objects are tin cans, aircraft parts and anchors. The dangerous ones include unexploded bombs and mines from both world wars.

In deep waters, underwater robots are being used to determine if the found objects pose any threat. In shallower waters, the inspections are done by divers.

One-tonne aerial bomb

“We have found eight explosives in Belgian waters, four on the French side and six in the UK,” Maes says. Most of them have already been neutralised.

The largest explosive detected so far was an American aerial bomb weighing a single tonne. The team has also found and neutralised a German aerial bomb weighing 500 kilograms and two British mines.

Though effective, the campaign is consuming a lot of time and money. “On a given day, we can only analyse two to three potentially dangerous objects, which is less than expected,” Maes explains. “It costs around €30,000 to analyse a single object and €90,000 to use the Olympic ship, so the operation is costing us tens of millions of euros.”

The goal is to clear the way for two 140km-long electricity cables, 130km of which will be installed under the seabed. The British half of the cables is currently on its way from Japan and will be installed by the end of the year. The Flemish half will be installed in the first half of 2018.

“Placing the cables is a challenging operation, because waves cannot be more than a meter high while we’re working,” Maes says. Both halves will also need to be connected in the middle and plugged in at two conversion stations, one at Zeebrugge and another in Richborough, on the southern coast of England.

Three goals

The stations will create an alternating current in both countries. The station in Zeebrugge is still under construction and should be ready by the second half of 2018. By 2019, Belgium and the UK should finally be able to exchange electricity.

The total cost of the Nemo Link project will amount to €660 million. Half of the sum will be provided by the Belgian grid operator Elia and the other half by the British transmission operator National Grid.

According to Maes, Nemo Link has three main goals: “To increase our electricity import capacity, to secure the supply of affordable power at moments of peak consumption and to encourage the use of renewable energy.”

The cables will have a capacity of 1,000 megawatt – equal to about three wind turbines – and the connection will ensure a steady supply of energy when there is not enough wind or solar power. It will serve as back-up system, Maes says, making the transition to renewable energy more gradual and dependable.

Troubled waters

As with all collaboration projects with UK-based firms at the moment, Nemo Link is concerned about one thing in particular. “The construction works will certainly be carried out as planned, but Brexit raises certain questions about the exchange of electricity,” Maes explains. “There is a risk, for example, that import duties will be introduced, but there may also be positive side effect, like a decrease in the price of electricity.”

Nemo Link is connected to another project called Stevin. Elia plans to use a 47km-long high-voltage line to transport energy produced by wind farms between the station in Zeebrugge and an existing one in Zomergem, East Flanders.

The line should become operational by the end of the year and, from 2019, will also be used for exchanging electricity with the UK.

Elia is also establishing a connection with Germany through its ALEGrO project. Two electricity cables will link the Walloon region of Liège with the city of Aachen.

“These cables have to be placed underground, so the operation will be very challenging as well,” Maes says. “From 2020, we should be able to use these cables to exchange electricity with Germany.”

According to Maes, all three projects put Belgium squarely on Europe’s energy map: “Belgium is an ideal gateway for the exchange of electricity thanks to its convenient central location. Soon, we will be one of the most connected countries in the region.”

Photo courtesy Nemo Link

Written by Andy Furniere