Construction work on a new 150-kV cable to be laid underneath the Westerschelde estuary between Terneuzen and Ellewoutsdijk, The Netherlands, began on July 2. A ceremony to mark the start of the work was attended by Ad Louter and Ben Voorhorst, the chief operating officers of regional grid operator DELTA and TenneT, respectively.

At the behest of TenneT, the Dutch Transmission System Operator, DELTA’s infrastructure division will be installing the cable underneath the Westerschelde estuary in the coming three months. The 7-km-long cable will link the high-voltage grid in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen (the southernmost region of the Dutch province of Zeeland, bordering Belgium) to the HV grid in Zuid-Beveland (the peninsula immediately to the north). The main purpose of the new cable is to further enhance security of supply in the province. Upon completion (scheduled for early October), Zeeuws-Vlaanderen will have two cable links of equivalent capacity again, both connected to the national high-voltage grid. It is customary to construct such cables in pairs in order to ensure redundancy and safeguard the security of supply.

Work will continue for approximately three months, and will be performed mainly from boats and pontoons. The actual under-water installation of the cable will take place in August.