Stefaan Mensaert, Product Line Manager Renewables at Nexans gave us the opportunity to talk to him about 66 kV cables, junction boxes and connectors. As an experienced cable manufacturer, he gave us some answers to the following topics: - Major challenges to overcome in order to deliver 66 kV XLPE insulated submarine cable and the accessories, junction boxes and connectors - What kind of tests they executed to ensure quality and high performance of 66 kV cabling technology - Nexans and the Blyth project in the UK - Future for offshore wind energy 66 kV inter-array cabling http://bit.ly/2fLLn2c

1. S t e f a a n M e n s a e r t
Product Line Manager Renewables
at Nexans
What are your major tasks and responsibilities
in the company? And what projects are you
developing around the 66 kV inter array cable
technology?
I am continuously monitoring the developments
and future needs in the segment Renewables
regarding power connection systems and Nexans
has engaged itself to offer a complete solution for
the upcoming 66 kV need in the offshore market.
Besides the 66 kV XLPE insulated submarine
cable, a complete set of power accessories,
including based on the outer cone technology has
been developed and successfully tested. Being
also an active member of the Steering committee
of the Belgian innovation cluster for offshore
energy and Nexans as a global company active in
cabling and power accessories , strengthens this
position.
What is the major challenge that Nexans, as
an experience cable manufacturer, had to
overcome in order to deliver the 66 kV XLPE
insulated submarine cable and the
accessories, junction boxes and connectors?
Why?
From the interviews with the main developers in
this market it became clear that flexibility of
installation, compactness and ease of testing are
the major concerns when it comes to connections
of the 66 kV turbines. Therefore the use of outer
cone technology based on an open – standardized
What kind of tests have you executed on your
designed junction boxes and connectors to
ensure the industry, quality and high
performance of your 66 kV cabling
technology?
All the accessories offered in the 72.kV range
from Nexans have gone through an extensive
qualification and typetesting process according to
the IEC60840.
For the OEM business, separate additional testing
has been performed to meet specific requests,
exceeding the values of the IEC60840.
Nexans is to supply the 66 kV inter-array cable
to the Blyth project in the UK. The industry
believes that this new cabling capacity and
technology will help to further decrease the
cost of wind energy. As an expert in the wind
energy industry, what do you think about this
statement?
Although initially there was some hesitation to
adopt this 66kV voltage level, thanks to the fast
interface” F” as defined in the standard EN50181
and EN50182 was from the beginning well
appreciated and adopted by the different players
in the supply chain, transformer-as well as
switch gear manufacturers. In addition specific
cost effective solutions, based on the same outer
cone connector system , have been worked out to
allow easy installation in between inter array and
tower cables within a junction box;