submarine power cable
A submarine power cable is a transmission cable for carrying electric power below the surface of the water.Klaipėda
Klaipėda (; ; german: Memel; pl, Kłajpeda; russian: Клайпеда; sgs, Klaipieda) is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. The capital of the eponymous county, it is the third largest city and the only major seaport in Lithuania ...
in
Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...
. The purpose of the cable is to facilitate the trading of power between the Baltic and Nordic electricity markets, and to increase the supply and
energy security
Energy security is the association between national security and the availability of natural resources for energy consumption. Access to (relatively) cheap energy has become essential to the functioning of modern economies. However, the uneven d ...
in both markets.
History
The project was originally suggested in 2004. Original project Swindlit was aimed at construction of the
wind farm
A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turb ...
in the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
and ensuring the electricity transmission to Sweden and Lithuania. The participants of this project were interested also in
Kruonis Pumped Storage Plant
Kruonis Pumped Storage Plant (the KPSP) is located near Kruonis, Lithuania, east of Kaunas. Its main purpose is to provide grid energy storage. It operates in conjunction with the Kaunas Hydroelectric Power Plant. During periods of low demand, ...
as an accumulator of variable wind energy.
In August 2006, the Lithuanian and Swedish transmission grid operators Lietuvos Energija and
Svenska kraftnät
Svenska kraftnät is an electricity transmission system operator in Sweden. It is a state-owned public utility, which was created in 1992 by splitting the former government agency Vattenfall into a power generation and distribution company Vatte ...
agreed to launch a feasibility study of a possible
interconnector
An interconnector (also known as a DC tie in the USA) is a structure which enables high voltage DC electricity to flow between electrical grids. An electrical interconnector allows electricity to flow between separate AC networks, or to link sy ...
. In February 2007, Lietuvos Energija and Svenska Kraftnät signed an agreement with Swedish consulting company SWECO International on preparation of feasibility study. The study was completed in March 2008 with positive conclusions for the implementation of the project.
On 9 July 2009, Lietuvos Energija, Latvenergo and Svenska Kraftnät signed a memorandum of understanding on the NordBalt project. Invitation for pre-qualification for NordBalt converters' and cable procurement was launched in December 2009. The sea bottom survey was conducted by Marin Mätteknik by 13 December 2009. On 17 December 2010,
Litgrid
Litgrid AB is a Lithuanian electricity transmission system operator that operates Lithuania's electricity transmission grid. Litgrid is responsible for the integration of the Lithuanian electricity system into the European electricity infrastruct ...
, a newly established transmission system operator of Lithuania who took the project over from Lietuvos Energija, and Svenska kraftnät, signed a €270 million contract with ABB according to which ABB manufactured the cable. According to another contract, signed on 20 December 2010, ABB supplied two converter stations.
In March 2013 the government of Lithuania approved construction plans for the coastal area. On 18 April 2013 the Swedish government gave its final approval of the construction of a power cable. Cable laying started on 11 April 2014. It was laid by using C/S ''Lewek Connector''. The cable laying was disrupted several times by the Russian Navy within the Exclusive Economic Zone of Lithuania causing the Lithuanian prime minister to summon the Russian ambassador and protest against Russia's violation of the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...
'
Convention on the Law of the Sea
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea Treaty, is an international agreement that establishes a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities. , 167 ...
(UNCLOS). On 9 June 2015, the cable laying works were completed.
The cable was officially inaugurated on 14 December 2015. However, due to fire near the Nybro substation, test transmission with a capacity of 30 MW started only on 1 February 2016. On 17 February 2016, electricity transmitted via Nordbalt was traded first time at Nord Pool Spot. the interconnector is in a test phase.
Technical features
The interconnector uses
high-voltage direct current
A high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electric power transmission system (also called a power superhighway or an electrical superhighway) uses direct current (DC) for electric power transmission, in contrast with the more common alternating cur ...
(HVDC). The length of the cable is , of which is the submarine cable, is the land cable in Sweden, and is the land cable in Lithuania. Its maximum capacity is 700 MW with a ramping restriction of 600 MW,
where the 700 MW capacity corresponds to an annual transmission capacity of 6.1 TWh.
Economy
The interconnector cost €580 million, of which the submarine cable cost €270 million. €175 million was paid by the
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
.
It connects the Nord Pool Spot bidding areas southern Sweden (SE4) and Lithuania (LT).
Electricity sector in Sweden
Majority of electricity production in Sweden relies on hydro power and nuclear power. In 2008 the consumption of electricity in Sweden was per capita, compared to EU average per capita.Baltic Cable, cable between Germany and Sweden
* Konti-Skan, cable between Denmark and Sweden
* Estlink, cable between Estonia and Finland
* Fenno-Skan, cable between Finland and Sweden
*
LitPol Link
LitPol Link is an electricity link between Poland and Lithuania which connects the Baltic transmission system to the synchronous grid of Continental Europe. It has a capacity of 500 MW and since 2021 it can operate in a synchronous regime.
...
, cable between Lithuania and Poland
*
Harmony Link
Harmony Link is a planned submarine power cable between Lithuania and Poland. The purpose of the cable is to finish the transition of the Baltic states from IPS/UPS to the synchronous grid of Continental Europe.
History
On 21 December 2018 Lithu ...
, subsea cable between Lithuania and Poland
*
SwePol
SwePol is a -long monopolar high-voltage direct current (HVDC) submarine cable between the Stärnö peninsula near Karlshamn, Sweden, and Bruskowo Wielkie, near Słupsk, Poland. The link was inaugurated in 2000 and can transmit up to 600&nbs ...