Groundbreaking Ceremony Held for Subsea Cable Factory in Scotland, UK
Preferred Bidder notice received for power transmission network for offshore wind power generation project in the UK
On May 14, 2024, Sumitomo Electric held a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of construction work on its subsea power cable factory in the Scottish Highlands.
In addition, we have received a preferred bidder notice from SSEN Transmission (headquarters: Perth, Scotland; hereafter "SSEN") for the Shetland 2 525 kV high voltage direct current (HVDC) XLPE cable project, planned by SSEN, which will interconnect the UK mainland to the northernmost part of the Shetland Islands over approximately 330 km.
In April last year, Sumitomo Electric announced the establishment of a state-of-the-art subsea power cable factory at Port Nigg in the Scottish Highlands in a significant boost for the UK green energy supply chain. We have now started construction work on the factory. The factory will play a role in reinforcing the UK's electricity transmission grid by manufacturing and supplying cables to connect offshore wind farms to the grid.
To mark the start of construction of the factory, a groundbreaking ceremony was held at the construction site on May 14, attended by Màiri McAllan, Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy, Rob MacDonald, President of SSEN, and other leading representatives from local governments, customers, and business partners.
In conjunction with the ceremony, SSEN, the UK's main electricity transmission system operator, announced the selection of Sumitomo Electric and consortium partner Van Oord as preferred bidders for 525 kV HVDC XLPE cables for the Shetland 2 project to transmit renewable energy generated in the Shetland Islands to the UK mainland.
Shetland 2 is one of the projects positioned as part of the wide strategic transmission network plan, Beyond 2030, and will link the Shetland Islands, the northernmost part of the UK, to the British mainland over a distance of approximately 330 km to bring 2 GW of renewable electricity to the UK grid. Under the plan, SSEN plans to invest a total of £5 billion (approximately ¥1 trillion) in the electricity transmission system in the north of Scotland, including Shetland 2. It is therefore expected that the factory will be put to further use.
The establishment of this factory is a project worth £350 million (approximately ¥70 billion) and will make a significant contribution towards the realization of the UK Net Zero Target by contributing to critical electricity transmission infrastructure to deliver renewable energy to the UK mainland and beyond. In addition, it will create 150 highly skilled jobs and maximize the utilization of local supply chains in cable production and transmission system construction.
Sumitomo Electric will continue to work towards creating a carbon-free society by leveraging the high quality and engineering of the power cables that we have developed over the years.
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