Nexans awarded contract for first transmission link from Orkney Islands in Scotland Page 1

Nexans awarded first electricity transmission link from Orkney Islands in Scotland

_PRESS RELEASE_

• Nexans, a world leader in the design and manufacture of cabling systems and services, has been awarded the contract for the Orkney Transmission Link
• The connection will exchange up to 220 MW of energy between the Orkney Islands and the UK mainland
• There will be a single high-voltage alternating current (HVAC) cable circuit stretching approximately 69km (53km underwater, 15km on land) from Finstown in Orkney to Dounreay in Caithness
• The important contract includes both the production and installation of the cable

Paris, France – September 16, 2024 – Nexans, a global leader in the design and manufacture of cabling systems and services, has signed the contract for the Orkney Link by SSEN Transmission following the Capacity Reservation Agreement signed in November 2023. The major contract includes both the manufacture and installation of the cable. The 220kV high-voltage alternating current (HVAC) cable will be the largest capacity cable connecting the Orkney Islands to mainland Scotland, spanning a total of 53km offshore and 16km onshore across Finstown, Orkney and Dounreay in Caithness, UK.

The Orkney Link will exchange up to 220MW of renewable energy between the islands and the mainland and is a crucial step in strengthening the UK electricity network, providing demand centres in the north of Scotland and beyond with clean energy from one of the world’s largest sources of renewable electricity. Subsea interconnectors, which connect two areas of land with an undersea electricity cable, enable the expansion of electrification and the growth of renewable energy. In the case of Orkney, there is an abundance of renewable resources from established and planned onshore wind farms to emerging technologies that harness electricity from the oceans, all of which will support the delivery of the UK and Scotland’s Net Zero targets.

“We are looking forward to working on the Orkney Link as it is a significant milestone in connecting remote renewable energy sources to the UK mainland. Subsea interconnectors are crucial for reliably delivering electricity across the oceans from the places with the greatest supply to those with the greatest demand, increasing the resilience of the grid and giving consumers access to reliable energy.” – Pascal Radue, EVP of Nexans’ Generation and Transmission Business Group