Construction of the world’s longest subsea cable, two parallel 720 kilometers cables, will connect the UK and Norwegian electricity grids.

This major engineering feat to enable Norway’s zero carbon hydro energy to be shared with the UK.

Before being able to lay the cable in Norway, the team had to first put materials piece by piece on a custom made floating platform and then maneuver it through a beautiful lake, which cannot be accessedby regular cable laying vessel

The operation is the first of its kind in this scale in Norway.

The construction of the platform had an average of 25 people working on it daily over the course of 11 days.

According to National Grid, this unique operation in Suldalsvatnet, marks the start of the cable laying on the Norwegian side.

The laying of the 2.8km parallel subsea cables at depths of up to 210 meters, was executed from a 43 x 15 meter platform – equivalent to the size of two tennis courts.

The equipment required to lay the cable was then installed on the platform, and within 12 hours, 150 tonnes of cable were loaded on board.

The platform held all the necessary equipment that is usually found on offshore cable laying vessels.

The next milestone is to lay the cable out from the fjords in Suldal, to the North Sea this summer.

This work will be carried out throughout the remainder of the year.

By 2021 the two parallel 720km cables between Cambois, Northumberland in the UK and Kvilldal, in Norway will have been completed to make North Sea Link the longest subsea power cable interconnector in the world.

When wind generation is high and electricity demand is low in the UK, North Sea Link will allow up to 1,400MW of power to flow from the UK, conserving water in Norway’s reservoirs.

If the demand is high in the UK and there is low wind generation, up to 1,400MW could flow from Norway, helping to secure electricity supplies.

By 2021,North Sea Link will be operational and the 1.4-gigawatt electricity interconnector will allow the UK to import enough clean energy to power up to 1.4 million homes.

The overall investment in the project is estimated to be €2 Billion (U$ 2.2 Billion)