IFA2 Cable landing with LHT^® E-POWER system

With the start of 2019, the landing of a 320 kV interconnector underground cable, between France and the UK in the small village of Merville Franceville Plage and the port of Le Havre was prepared and implemented. The operator RTE decided to use high-temperature stable EMDS pipes of the high-performance class LHT^® from Gerodur. This ensures a long service life of the cable protection line, taking into account the operating temperature of the cables of approx. 70°C.
The pipes were welded together on a dock to form two pipeline sections of 650 metres each and then drawn out into the Atlantic by a tugboat. A 250 t drilling rig drilled two 650 m long boreholes from the mainland. The floating pipes were then installed on the open sea, from where the pipe strings were pulled into the bentonite-filled drilled channel.