UNDERSEA POWER PROJECT OFFERS MAJOR BENEFITS FOR THE UK & IRELAND

enesal Energy is providing technology for an undersea highway project designed to bring green energy to the UK and Ireland. A huge HVDC interconnector will link Ireland and Great Britain to bring electricity to 350,000 homes. Greenlink, the colossal engineering project designed to bring clean energy to thousands of people.

   The Greenlink HVDC interconnector is an immense undersea highway which features are as spectacular as its construction. The interconnector will have a capacity of 500 MW and a length of 160 kilometres, the distance separating the counties of Wexford in Ireland and Pembrokeshire in Wales. Its entry into service, scheduled for this year, will enable the supply of clean electricity pursuing the aim of achieving zero emissions. This project has been declared a Project of Common Interest by the EU).

   For this mega project, delivered by Siemens Energy and Sumitomo Electric, Genesal Energy has designed three generator sets to provide emergency power at both ends of the giant interconnector. Three special units developed at our HQ in Northern Spain to guarantee the supply of the two vital facilities in the connection of the electricity grid of Great Britain and Ireland.

"If for any reason there were to be a lack of supply, it would cause a major grid failure", explains a  member of Genesal's engineering team, highlighting the importance of having precise, robust and extremely reliable contingency gensets.

 For the Greenlink project, Genesal's client, Siemens Energy, requested that the generators must be fully operated, controlled and monitored from the genset control panel. The solution provided consisted of bespoke generators including the following features:

- Bespoke soundproofing.

- Great Britain and Ireland Regulations compliant in terms of air conditioning, motorised grilles or liquid retention systems. These latter trays fitted with sensors monitored from the control panel.

- Integrated into the container Load-Banks so that the generator sets are always in the optimum working load range.

 The Greenlink subsea interconnector project is perfectly in line with Genesal's company policy of putting innovation at the service of sustainability and the environment. It is also a clear example of a Smart grid or intelligent electrical network that has been conceived to facilitate the transport and distribution of green energy, reports the company.