COMETA (abbreviation for COnexión MEditerránea Transporte Alta tensión; also known as the Majorca–Valencia interconnector and the Romulus project) is an undersea

electric power transmission Electric power transmission is the bulk movement of electrical energy from a generating site, such as a power plant, to an electrical substation. The interconnected lines that facilitate this movement form a ''transmission network''. This is ...

system between mainland

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and the island of

Majorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

. It connects

Morvedre Sagunto () is a municipality of Spain, located in the province of Valencia, Valencian Community. It belongs to the modern fertile ''comarca'' of Camp de Morvedre. It is located approximately north of the city of Valencia, close to the Costa ...

near

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

and

Santa Ponsa Santa Ponsa ( Catalan and officially: ''Santa Ponça'') is a small town in the southwest of Mallorca. Located in the municipality of Calvià, it is 18 kilometres from the capital Palma. History It was long believed that the name Santa Ponsa ...

near

Palma de Mallorca Palma (, ; ), also known as Palma de Mallorca (officially between 1983 and 1988, 2006–2008, and 2012–2016), is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is ...

. The project was developed by Red Electrica de España. The project aims were to connect the Balearic Islands with the Spanish peninsular grid, providing a better electrical supply to the two isolated Balearic grids.

History

On 26 September 2007, contracts between Red Electrica de España and the cable manufacturers Nexans and

Prysmian Prysmian S.p.A. is a multinational company with headquarters in Milan, Italy, specialising in the production of electrical cable for use in the energy and telecom sectors and for optical fibres. Prysmian is present in Europe with 48 plants, 23 ...

were signed. On 9 October 2007, a contract with Siemens was signed for supplying two

converter station An HVDC converter station (or simply converter station) is a specialised type of substation which forms the terminal equipment for a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line.Arrillaga, Jos; High Voltage Direct Current Transmission, s ...

s. The laying of the first cable started on 13 January 2011 and the laying of the second cable started on 27 January 2011. The first cable was laid by the cable ship ''Giulio Verne'' and the second cable was laid by the cable ship ''Nexans Skagerrak''. Trenching was done by waterjet from the Multipurpose Supply Vessel (MPSV) ''Edda Fjord'' and dredger ''Argo I''. COMETA became operational in early 2012, initially at reduced capacity then fully from August 2012. The total cost of the project was €375 million. During the first operational quarter, the Spanish grid operator estimated that the connection would mean 25 million €/year in savings, due to more efficient supply to the islands and less carbon rights. It is planned to extend the connection to Ibiza and Formentera with a second underwater cable, (115 km) long and 800 m deep, operating at 132 kV AC.

Technical description

The cable was produced and laid by Prysmian Group and Nexans SA. The system consists of two bipolar

high-voltage direct current A high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electric power transmission system uses direct current (DC) for electric power transmission, in contrast with the more common alternating current (AC) transmission systems. Most HVDC links use voltages betwe ...

(HVDC) cables with a transmission capacity of 200 MW and an operating voltage of 250 kV of each, and a metal return cable. It has a total transmission capacity of 400 MW. The maximum depth of the submarine cable is . It is the second longest submarine power cable after

NorNed NorNed is a long high-voltage direct current submarine power cable between Feda, Norway and the seaport of Eemshaven in the Netherlands, which interconnects both countries' electrical grids. It was once the longest submarine power cable in the ...

and the second deepest after SAPEI. The submarine part of the cable is long and the land cable is long. There are converter stations in Morvedre and Santa Ponsa, built by Siemens.

References

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20110720143801/http://www.ree.es/ingles/sala_prensa/web/inc/fichero.aspx?ruta=especiales%2Farchivos&fichero=0ym7r2b97o6r.pdf *https://web.archive.org/web/20110323075652/http://www.ostensjo.no/ostensjo/web.nsf/Pages/EddaFjord {{DEFAULTSORT:Cometa (Hvdc) Electric power infrastructure in Spain HVDC transmission lines Energy infrastructure completed in 2012 2012 establishments in Spain