Marine geoscience and offshore construction support service provider Next Geosolutions (NextGeo) has completed all the pre-installation survey tasks for the Tyrrhenian Link East branch on behalf of Prysmian.
The works entailed extensive marine detailed geophysical, geotechnical, UXO, archaeological and environmental survey activities along the Terna’s submarine power line connecting the landing points in Sicily and in Campania with two HVDC cables, approximately 485 kilometres long each.
Additional survey tasks have been executed in the nearshore sections of the corridor, including boreholes, HDD survey, topography and geoelectrical investigations.
Over 400 days of work and numerous ships were used to carry out the project, including the group-owned offshore vessels MPSV NG Worker and MPSV Ievoli Ivory, as well as the MV Eco-One and other smaller nearshore vessels.
The Tyrrhenian Link is one of the most important energy infrastructures in the entire Mediterranean.
With this project, Terna, the Italian transmission system operator (TSO), will connect Sicily with Sardinia and the Italian peninsula through a double submarine HVDC cable link with a power capacity of 1,000 MW and a total length of about 970 km.
The connection will improve the electricity exchange capacity, promote the development of renewable sources and the reliability of the grid.
“This mission presented quite a few operational challenges, however it was successfully, efficiently and sustainably accomplished, thanks to the consistent NextGeo resilience, resources and capabilities, as well as to a close collaboration with all the teams involved in the project. We are extremely proud to actively contribute to the realisation of such a fundamental energy infrastructure,” said Giorgio Ruta, NextGeo Project Manager for the Tyrrhenian Link project.