The Malta–Sicily interconnector is the submarine power cable which connects the power grid of Malta with the Italian Transmission Network managed by Terna, which is part of the European grid. It was constructed in 2014-2015, and supplies roughly 1⁄4 of Malta’s electrical power.
A routine inspection of the Malta-Sicily submarine interconnector took place in February 2022 by using the Polish built multi purpose offshore vessel, HAVILA PHOENIX.
She was built at Maritim Shipyard Sp.z.o.o. at Gdansk, Poland with DNV Vessel Register 27516 and yard number as 858.
With an accommodation of 140 souls, homeported at Fosnavaag, Norway (NIS Flag) she’s 127.4 m long (loa) with 23 m beam and maximum draft of 6.25 m
With the local Energy Provider Enemalta who had an engineer together with Norwegian technicians made use of specialized equipment to examine the conditions of the interconnector to safeguard its longevity. This operation took four days and a detailed survey was conducted to ensure that the interconnector was not damaged by maritime activities such as the ship anchorages or fishing nets.
Through this periodic survey, Enemalta ensures that any necessary maintenance work is conducted on the cable which forms part of the high voltage infrastructure. The 220kV 3 x 630mm² submarine cables with XLPE insulation was manufactured in Nexans’ specialised submarine cable factory in Halden, Norway. Installation was carried out by Nexans’ cable ship, the NEXANS SKAGERRAK . The cables was installed in the Malta-Sicily channel at water depths of 150m and the cables were buried to around 1m below the seabed.
