Red Electrica de España (REE) has awarded Prysmian Cables & Systems a contract for the design, supply and construction of a high-voltage dc submarine link between the electricity grids of the Iberian peninsula and the island of Majorca (Balearic archipelago).

The entire project, named COMETA (ConecciÓn MediterrÓnea Transporte Alta tensiÓn), has been assigned to a consortium between Prysmian and Nexans. The value of the Prysmian portion of the project is 118.7 million euros. Working with Nexans, Prysmian will provide a turnkey system including the engineering, production and laying of two 250-kV dc cable terminals, comprising 240 km (149 miles) of submarine cable and 7 km (4 miles) of land cable, with a total transmission capacity of 400 MW.

Prysmian will produce and lay one of the two paper-insulated high-voltage cables and the medium-voltage return cable, which, together with the cables Nexans is to produce and lay, will form the link between the Sagunto (mainland) and Santa Ponza (island of Majorca) substations.

The COMETA project is of strategic importance for the development of Spain's national energy transmission network and will link the biggest island in the Balearic archipelago (Majorca) with the mainland, providing access to generating capacities available on the peninsula. This will help to address growing energy requirements on the island.

Prysmian will install the high-voltage submarine cable, the medium-voltage return cable and the fiber-optic data transmission cable with its own cable-laying ship, Giulio Verne (see Transmission & Distribution World, August 2007). Given the length of the cable link, the laying process will be split into two stages, with the return cable and the optical cable bundles laid first, followed by the high-voltage cable. The Italian Arco Felice plant (Naples) will produce both the submarine and land cables required for the link. The project is scheduled for completion by spring 2011.