Nemo Link is a 1,000 MegaWatt HVDC submarine power cable between Richborough Energy Park in Kent, the United Kingdom and Zeebrugge, Belgium.[1] The project is a joint venture between British National Grid and Belgian Elia.[1] The 400 kV[1][2] electrical interconnector is the first between the two countries, with an annual transmission capacity of 8.76 TWh. The link has been fully operational since 31 January 2019,[1][3] and has transported 29 TWh during its first 5 years; 24.75 TWh to the UK and 4.25 to Belgium with an availability above 99%.[4]
In 2015, contracts totalling €500 million were awarded to Siemens for the construction of the two onshore HVDC converter stations and to J-Power Systems Corporation for the cable system.[1][5] The contract for the laying of the actual cable was awarded to DeepOcean who completed the work in 2017 and 2018.[6][7]
The total cable length is 140 km (87 miles) of which 130 kilometres (81 mi) is under water, buried at a depth of up to 60 metres (200 ft).[2] The offshore section runs from Pegwell Bay on the UK side to Zeebrugge beach in Belgium. The onshore cable in Belgium is nearly 9 km (5.6 miles) long and connects the landing point of the submarine cable in Zeebrugge beach to the converter station in Herdersbrug. In the United Kingdom there is 2 km (1.2 miles) of land cable from Pegwell Bay to the Richborough converter station.
