High voltage direct current transmission cables to help decarbonisation in Europe: Recent achievements and issues

HVDC underground and submarine cables constitute an essential technology for the long-distance transmission of renewable electrical power with low losses, thereby fostering decarbonization. In the past two decades, all this yielded a quasi-exponential rise of HVDC cable systems installed worldwide, but has also made the working conditions of HVDC cables harsher. In this paper, the contribution of HVDC cables to decarbonization is tackled, with particular reference to the situation in Europe, and a few simple calculations showing in general terms the quantitative contribution provided by HVDC cable systems to decarbonization are given. Then, the major issues towards long-lasting and reliable HVDC cable systems are summarized briefly, focusing – for the sake of brevity – on the influence of the main HVDC cable technologies, of cable laying environment and of duty service. Some hints are also provided at the chances given by multiterminal HVDC systems.