An epic Canadian project that took nearly four years of engineering, manufacturing, installation and testing has been completed, and Nexans reports that it has completed its contract to supply the longest submarine power cables in North America.

A press release said that the two 200 kV mass impregnated (MI) HVDC cables, each 170-km long and weighing approximately 5,500 tons, are part of the Maritime Link Project conducted by NSP Maritime Link Inc. (NSPML), an indirect subsidiary of Emera Inc. The 175 million euro contract also includes some 50 km of overland transmission cables in Nova Scotia and close to another 300 km cables of overland transmission on the island of Newfoundland. The cables were manufactured at Nexans’ factories in Halden, Norway, and in Futtsu, Japan.

Nexans installed the submarine cables in the Cabot Strait to a depth of approximately 470 meters, protecting them on the seabed and electrically interconnecting the provinces of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador for the first time. The final high-voltage tests were successfully conducted on the link in September 2017.

“We are thrilled to be part of this exciting project and we are happy to have completed the installation of these two submarine cables, the longest in Northern America, after almost 600,000 hours of designing, manufacturing and laying works,” said Nexans Project Manager Geir Korstad. “This success is undoubtedly the result of hard work and dedication of our highly-competent Nexans teams as well as the seamless cooperation with NSPML and our partners.”

The release described the Maritime Link Project as a new 500 MW (+/- 200 kV) HVDC interconnection that consists of converter stations and associated high-voltage alternating current (HVAC) switchyards as well as two HVDC transmission lines, a 230 kV HVAC transmission line, and associated infrastructure. The Maritime Link Project began in 2011. The project, it said, is part of efforts for Canada, which gets two-thirds of its electricity from renewable resources, to reduce its coal emissions by 50% by 2030. It will also enable Nova Scotia to meet regulations requiring 40% renewable energy by 2020.