Norway’s Reach Subsea is anticipated to commence an offshore survey campaign next week for the second 525 kV HVDC cable link between Shetland and the Scottish mainland, known as the Shetland HVDC Link 2.

Shetland 2 will connect 330 kilometers between Shetland and the mainland to bring 2 GW of renewable electricity to Great Britain’s network, which forms part of the latest strategic transmission network plan “Beyond 2030” where a total £5 billion investment by SSEN is expected in the north of Scotland by 2035.

Reach Subsea’s offshore survey vessel Viking Reach has been selected to carry out geophysical, geotechnical, and benthic surveys on behalf of Scottish & Southern Electricity Networks Transmission (SSEN Transmission) for the subsea cable project.

The activities are scheduled to begin on February 23 and continue through August.

The marine surveys will help gain information on seabed morphology, installation design, sediment structure, benthic characterisation and habitat mapping, with the collected data to provide an understanding of the marine environment to install the cable in the best way possible.

The survey equipment will consist of a multi-beam echo sounder (MBES), side scan sonar (SSS), sub-bottom profiler (SBP), magnetometer, benthic grabs, vibrocores and core penetration rests.

The cable for the project will be delivered from Sumitomo’s manufacturing facility, currently under construction in Nigg, in the northeast of Scotland.

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