NKT completes deep water cable test and installation of HVDC cable systems

NKT recently completed a Sea Trial test campaign for deep sea cable-laying at more than 700 meters in Norway with the company’s cable-laying vessel NKT Victoria. 

The test was executed with an NKT 525 kV HVDC double-armored submarine cable and verified excellent performance of the relevant equipment on NKT Victoria, such as ROVs, turntables and tensioners. NKT Victoria’s capabilities provided full control of the critical process of cable-laying. The Sea Trial test was witnessed and confirmed by DNV GL as the independent Marine Warranty Surveyor.

The Sea Trial test compliments the successful HVDC bundled cable installation at 600 meters for the Oil & Gas platform Johan Sverdrup. The Johan Sverdrup installation was conducted for the Norwegian client Equinor (formerly Statoil) bringing power from shore to the platform located in the North Sea and marks one of the deepest successful installation of a bundled HVDC cable in the world. 

We expect several upcoming interconnector and power from shore projects to include deep sea installation. With the successful installation for Johan Sverdrup and the new 525 kV HVDC 700 meters Sea Trial test, we have clearly proven that NKT Victoria is more than fit for cable installation in deep waters, says Executive Vice President Andreas Berthou, who is responsible for high-voltage cable solutions in NKT. 

The recent accomplishments connecting Johan Sverdrup as well as the standalone sea installation trial with a 525 kV HVDC cable is an important step for the journey of NKT and the industry towards deep sea cable installation in the upper power and voltage ranges.

The deep sea installations was completed with the purpose build cable-laying-vessel NKT Victoria. Since her commissioning in 2017 she has laid cables for projects such as the 600 MW wind farm Kriegers Flak in Denmark and the export cable connecting the Rentel windfarm to shore in Belgium. In 2017, NKT Victoria was proclaimed Ship of the Year in Norway in recognition of her innovative, technological and sustainability capabilities.