Nexans signs contract to supply underground cables for 443 MW wind farm in UK

SSE Renewables has selected Nexans as a provider of 800 km underground cables for the 443 MW Viking Wind Farm in the UK. 

Located on Shetland in the North Atlantic, 170 km from the coast of Scotland, the Viking Farm comprises 103 wind turbines. It will generate enough energy to power almost 500,000 homes, helping to achieve Scotland’s net-zero targets. The onshore wind farm is set to go online in 2024. The total investment in the project is around GBP580 million (USD807 million). 

Derek Hastings, Head of Onshore Projects at SSE Renewables said, “There were two main reasons for awarding the contract to Nexans. First, the cables met our stringent technical requirements. Second was Nexans’ ability to provide a fixed price over the 18-month contract period.” 

Nexans will supply the 33 kilovolts (kV) underground cables, which will make the vital power connections for the Viking Wind Farm. The cables will link the wind turbine arrays together and export the power to the main substation, from where through interconnector it will be transferred to the UK grid. The company will provide two types of cables- 650 km underground cables with a single core design and cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) insulation and 150 km of bare copper earth cables. First deliveries are scheduled for September 2021.