Part of the cable in more degraded state
The investigation of the failure from this spring has shown that - apart from the repaired section of the cable- another, small section of the cable is in a more degraded state than expected. This means that there is an increased risk of cable failure in the future. Ultimately, replacement of part of the cable connection (about 1,3 kilometers) is likely necessary to secure the lifetime of the cable.
Operational in winter months
TenneT and Statnett are now assessing measures which can have NorNed operational as best as possible during the winter months until a long term solution is in place. Therefore, returning NorNed to operations has been postponed until 17 October. Cable experts are meanwhile investigating what has caused the reduced condition of the cable.
Securing long term repair of the cable requires more time. A new part of the cable needs to be produced. Due to storm season between October and April it is not possible to work on the cable.
NorNed outage background
On 6 May, the NorNed cable went out of service due to a fault. Investigations revealed that the fault in the cable was in the Dutch section of the cable. During the summer months, work was carried out to repair the cable. This was a complex repair operation due to the specific type of cable of the connection and the position of the cable fault (near the coast), which required the use of special equipment.