The Europacable Concept of Partial Undergrounding

Seeking to offer an innovative solution to the challenge of upgrading and expanding Europe’s electricity grid in a reliable, sustainable, affordable and publicly acceptable manner, Europacable has developed the Concept of Partial Undergrounding:

This concept foresees to underground power lines in sensitive areas so as to complement overhead lines where their deployment is restricted by public concerns or environmental limitations.

The Concept of Partial Undergrounding can be applied at any voltage level. This said, we believe that today the biggest potential to facilitate grid extensions lies with 380kV extra high voltage (EHV) cross linked polyethylene (XLPE) alternate current (AC) cables

An increasing number of references cases show that partial undergrounding of EHV transmission lines can help to address concerns of local communes affected by the negative impacts of transmission lines. XLPE cables can thus facilitate breaking the deadlock of certain projects. By speeding up the construction times of transmission projects, XLPE cables serve as an enabler to integrate renewable energy sources into Europe’s future energy mix.

The Concept of Partial Undergrounding opens new flexibility in the planning and execution of future electricity grid infrastructure:

• Alternative, possibly shorter routes;
• Individual adaptation of the line to requirements of the surroundings;
• Reduction of cost multiples, as higher expenditure for undergrounding is limited to short sections;
• Pilot projects allow industry to further deepen its technology expertise, thus securing Europe’s leadership in this sector.