Cabling company Nexans has successfully completed a 75km subsea power link between Pemba Island, the second largest island in the Zanzibar archipelago, and the National Grid on mainland Tanzania.
The Pemba cable project has been financed through a grant of €45m (£38m) from the Norwegian state, while the Zanzibar government has contributed €8m and the union government €4m.
The 36kV PEX (XLPE) insulated cable was designed and manufactured at Nexans’ subsea-cable factory in Halden, Norway, and incorporates optical-fibre elements supplied by the Rognan factory, also in Norway.
The cable, weighing more than 4,300 tonnes, was loaded onto Nexans’ installation vessel, the C/S Nexans Skagerrak, and shipped to the Pemba Channel.