Installation of XLPE-Insulated 400 kV Submarine AC Power Cables under the Dardanelles Strait: A 4 GW Turkish Grid Reinforcement

This paper describes the 400 kV AC submarine link under the Dardanelles Strait composed of 12 submarine armoured single-core cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE)-insulated cables (plus a back-up power cable). The link consists of two parallel-operated double-circuit links named Lâpseki–Sütlüce I and Lâpseki–Sütlüce II. The transmissible power is 4000 MW (1000 MW per circuit) and the average length for a single-core cable is about 4.6 km: the submarine cables are part of overhead lines. This paper gives a wide account of the cable installations and, chiefly, of the cable protections on the seabed: different protection choices were extensively used (i.e., water jetting and mattressing)