The Dutch electricity transmission system operator, TenneT, and Energinet.dk have signed contracts with Siemens and Prysmian, and thus an interconnection between the Dutch and Danish electricity grids is ready to be laid at the bottom of the North Sea.

- We have signed the last large contracts and entered into the final agreements. Thus, we have taken the last important step towards connecting the power systems in the two countries - a journey that officially began back in 2009, when we entered the first cooperation agreement, but has actually been in the pipeline for even longer, said Torben Glar Nielsen, Executive Vice President, CTO, at Energinet.dk.

Profit in both countries
The COBRA interconnection will be a gain to both the Netherlands and Denmark and will provide socio-economic benefits in both countries.

- Danish power stations, owners of wind turbines, solar cell owners, etc. can export more electricity. It is good business, and it makes the green transition more effective, because we can export more electricity, for example when there is a lot of wind and generation is high in Denmark, said Torben Glar Nielsen.
In the long term, the interconnection will also help ensure the security of supply in Denmark, as we will get another opportunity to import electricity, when we need to buy abroad.

Important to the future green power system
The Italian cable manufacturer, Prysmian, will deliver the approx. 350 km long 700 MW DC submarine cable, and Siemens will deliver the two converter sta-tions to be placed in Eemshaven in the Netherlands and Endrup near Esbjerg respectively and connect the cable to the 400 kV AC grid. In Denmark, Siemens will deliver the components to the converter station, but Energinet.dk must construct the building in Endrup.

The COBRA cable can import and export what roughly corresponds to the electricity consumption of 700,000 households. It is an important part of the future Danish and European electricity market, where more electricity is generated as the wind blows and the sun shines and therefore must be transported over much longer distances to reach consumers.

The total costs of the interconnection will amount to approx. DKK 4.7 billion. The project has received financial EU support of DKK 645 million, as it has been appointed as an important electricity infrastructure project.

The work with the COBRA interconnection will start this year and is expected to be completed at the beginning of 2019, where the interconnection will be ready for use.