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wiredInUSA - September 2015
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A $300 million transatlantic cable, known
as AEConnect, has come ashore at Ross
Strand in Killala, County Mayo. The work,
carried out by Aqua Comms Transatlantic
Cable, was marked with a committee of
local councillors and officials, including
Taoiseach Enda Kenny.
Theopticfiber cablewill stretch fromShirley,
New York, a distance of 5,400km, and is
expected to generate a major economic
boost for the west of Ireland. The cable will
have the capacity to handle up to a third
of the world’s telephone calls and cover
the entire Internet traffic of Europe and
the US.
The system is expected to be live in early
2016 and will enable 53.8 millisecond
transfer speeds across the Atlantic.
Local councillor Jarlath Munnelly said the
project could “transform” Killala and the
north Mayo region. “This is an exciting
project… It has the potential to transform
North Mayo, not just Killala, by enhancing
the telecommunications infrastructure in
the area, and putting Ireland and Mayo
into the center of a global network.”
Cable landing
ABB has commissioned the 800MW
DolWin1 HVDC offshore wind grid link in the
German North Sea for the Dutch-German
transmission system operator TenneT. The
DolWin1gridconnection ispartofGermany's
Energiewende program, which aims to
generate in excess of 6.5GW offshore wind
capacity by 2020 and 15GW by 2030.
The DolWin1 connects the DolWin alpha
converter station to the landfall point
in Hilgenriedersiel, via a 75km subsea
cable, and then to the converter station
in Dörpen-West (Heede), in Lower Saxony,
Germany, as an undergroundcable system.
At present, the 215MW Borkum West II and
312MW Borkum Riffgrund I offshore wind
farms are connected to the DolWin alpha
through submarine cables.
ABB provided its HVDC Light voltage source
converter for the project, and also installed
the converter stations, and submarine and
underground cable systems.
With the commissioning of the DolWin1,
transmission capacity of offshore grid
connections in the North Sea reaches
around 4,300MW; a significant contribution
to the government's planned 6,500MW by
2020.
Only connect