Kontek

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HGÜ Kontek ín Bentwisch

The Kontek (the name comes from "continent" and the name of the former Danish power transmission company "Elkraft", which operated the power grid on the Danish islands Lolland, Falster and Sealand and had the abbreviation "ek") is, a 170 kilometer long, monopolar 400kV DC-cable for the interconnection of the German power grid with the electricity grid of the Danish island Sealand.

Remarkable at Kontek is that, in contrast to similar facilities like Baltic-Cable and Konti-Skan, all land sections of the line on Falster, Sealand and Germany with a total length of 119 kilometers are implemented as underground cable.

This unusual measure, which raised the construction costs of Kontek significantly, does not have technical reasons. It was rather taken in order to complete the line in time, because getting permissions for building overhead can take a lot of time.

The cable of the Kontek begins in the static inverter plant of Bentwisch. It runs parallel to the cable to the cathode, on a length of 13 kilometers to Markgrafenheide at the Baltic Sea. There the 43 kilometers long submarine cable section begins to the island Falster. Shortly behind the coastal line the cable to the cathode electrode of the Kontek runs in eastern direction leading to the cathode which is implemented as a copper ring.

In the Baltic Sea between Germany and Falster the high-voltage cable of the Kontek crosses the cable of the HVDC Baltic-Cable. For the realization of this crossing a ramp of approximately 50 centimeters height over the "Baltic Cable" in the Baltic Sea was erected, on which the cable of the Kontek lies. Near Gedser the submarine cable of the Kontek reaches the island Falster, which is crossed on a length of 50 kilometers as underground cable. Subsequently, again a 7 kilometer long submarine cable section follows for the crossing of the sea between Falster and Sealand. After this section a 53 kilometer long land cable on Sealand follows, which ends in the static inverter station Bjaeverskov.

In contrast to the cable section near Rostock the electrode cable does not run parallel here. It runs from Bjaeverskov in southeastern direction to the anode situated at the southeastern end of Sealand. The anode is implemented as a titanium net lain before the coast of Sealand.

The Kontek can transfer maximally 600 megawatts and has been in service since 1996.

The high-voltage cable of the Kontek is implemented as paper-isolated oil-filled cable with two copper conductors with a cross section of 800 mm² permanently joined in parallel. For better monitoring of the oil, the land sections of the Kontek cable are divided in sections of approx. 8 kilometers, which are separated by oil-impermeable sockets from each other. In the proximity of these sockets - at some distance from the cable route - there are automatic stations for the monitoring of the oil pressure, the oil temperature and other operating parameters of the cable. For practical reasons, the 45 kilometers long submarine cable section through the Baltic Sea between Germany and Denmark was implemented as a single oil-filled section without sockets. As electrode cables of the Kontek, on the German and on the Danish side, commercial plastic-isolated 17kV-cables are used.

The static inverter station in Bjaeverskov was attached to an existing substation for 380kV/110kV. For the construction of the static inverter plant in Bentwisch a new construction site was chosen even though only one kilometer north there is still the old 220kV/110kV-substation which was built in the GDR. In 2002 the static inverter station in Bentwisch was extended to a 380kV/110kV-substation and connected by a 110kV-line to the old 220kV/110kV-substation.