General – Cable Project
Sumitomo Electric Industries has secured a contract with National Grid Electricity Transmission PLC (NGET) for supply and installation of the 140 km HVDC cable project Sea Link between Kent and Suffolk in the UK.
The submarine cable for the project will be manufactured in Sumitomo Electric’s factory in the UK, maximising the social value of the project.
The construction of Sea Link is scheduled to begin in 2027.
Sea Link is one of the key infrastructure projects of NGET’s ‘The Great Grid Upgrade’ which aims to substantially increase electricity transmission capacity in the UK and efficiently deliver cleaner energy to homes and businesses throughout the country.
The Sea Link cable will be manufactured at Sumitomo Electric’s cutting-edge submarine cable factory in Port of Nigg, Scotland, thereby significantly supporting the UK government’s policy goals, strengthening the local supply chain in the clean power sector, increasing social value, and creating jobs, while also promoting sustainability and decarbonization efforts.
The Port of Nigg facility has been built to actively contribute to the UK’s critical electricity transmission infrastructure construction for the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan and the Net Zero 2050 initiatives. The factory, once fully operational, will create more than 200 direct jobs as well as numerous jobs in associated and supporting future supply chains. This represents several additional personnel directly related to the execution and installation of the project.
