Sweden says no to new Øresund energy cable

The current infrastructure stretching between Helsingør and Helsingborg is more than 60 years old

The national transmission system operator for electricity and natural gas, Energinet.dk, may have to begin renovating old underwater cables because Sweden has refused to be part of a project to stretch a new 400 Kilo Watt (kW) cable across the Øresund strait.

Energinet.dk’s counterpart in Sweden, Kraftnät, has said no to the new cable that would stretch from Amager to Malmö and that would be a future investment looking ahead towards more sustainable energy.

Jesper Nørskov Rasmussen, a spokesperson for Energinet.dk, said that a new link directly to Copenhagen would be beneficial, but that Sweden’s refusal wouldn’t jeopardise the current energy supply between the two nations.

“Both parties must agree if a new cable is to be built, but a ‘no’ won’t influence our current supply security because of existing infrastructure,” Rasmussen told Ingeniøren. “The cable was supposed to be a future investment, but it won’t happen this time around.”

READ MORE: Future gas will come from abroad

60 years and counting
A large network of cables between Denmark and abroad was expected to secure a stable infrastructure for the import and export of energy.

Instead Energinet.dk and its Swedish partner on the current connection, E-ON, are looking into renovating and potentially replacing the current infrastructure, which is a 132 kW cable stretching between Helsingør and Helsingborg and is more than 60 years old.





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