Scandanavian power cable

Energinet.dk and Statnett - the power-transmission-system operators in Denmark and Norway - are to build a power cable between the two countries.

The Skagerrak 4 cable will have a capacity of 700MW and is expected to be commissioned in 2014, provided the cable is given the seal of approval by the countries’ energy ministers.

‘The cable will help to ensure better wind-power utilisation as wind power expands in Denmark,’ said Torben Glar Nielsen, executive vice president, Energinet.dk’s Electricity Division.

‘We can send more wind power to Norway when it is very windy in Denmark and we can get cheap hydropower from Norway when we have no wind here.’

Today there are three electric power cables between Denmark and Norway, accounting for a total capacity of around 1,000MW. Skagerrak 4 will increase this capacity by 70 per cent to 1,700MW.

The power cable will be about 240km long. It will have two substations, one in Kristianssand, Norway, and one in Tjele, Denmark. Energinet.dk already owns the land required to expand the Tjele substation.

The cable will be around 12km long on the Norwegian side and about 90km long on the Danish side. The submarine cable will be 140km long.