Pirelli: advanced undergrounding project
Euro 17 million contract for Pirelli. One of the most advanced undergrounding projects in the world, which will eliminate problems of traditional aerial lines
Madrid, February 6th, 2002 - Pirelli Cables y Sistemas today announced to have been chosen by utility Red Elctrica Espaola (REE) for undergrounding a new 12.1 kilometers high voltage power line at the Madrid Barajas Airport.
The contract, which is worth Euro 17 million for Pirelli, is part of the extension plan of the airport, which foresees the creation of a new landing track. This installation also represents one of the most advanced projects in the world for length, voltage and power transmission.
Pirelli has also been awarded the whole project engineering activities and named main contractor by REE, which recognized the Group's both technological excellence in undergrounding and expertise in high voltage systems. Thanks to this project, to be completed by September 2003, Pirelli further consolidates its world market leadership in the energy cables and systems sector.
Under the terms of the contract, Pirelli will supply 37 kilometers of extruded 400kV XLPE cable, representing the state-of-the-art technology in high voltage cables, the cross bonding system, the temperature - both for cables and for duct's air - monitoring system, joints and terminations for the whole circuit. Furthermore, Pirelli will provide all fixing and laying elements, as well as testing activities of the system, to which a second circuit will be connected.
Pirelli is today at the forefront in researching into undergrounding of overhead power lines. In recent years there has been growing pressure to underground power lines, for two main reasons. The first of these relates to electrical networks reliability and safety. The second area of concern is the environmental impact. Pirelli has already patented and industrialised a series of leading edge technologies (Compact™, Pit-stop™, Opto-power™,) designed to reduce the time and costs of undergrounding by more than 60%, while further enhancing reliability. One of the pilasters of these areas of innovation is the exclusive Pirelli patented technology known as Air Bag™. Thanks to this technology, electrical cable cores are protected by a polymeric layer, which properties may be modulated in line, particularly resistant also to short duration mechanical stresses of high intensity.