Hitachi Energy €770M Italy–Tunisia HVDC link: design and civil notes for engineers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on New Civil Engineer
30 Second Briefing
Hitachi Energy has secured a €770M (£664M) contract from Terna and STEG to design and build two converter stations for the first high-voltage direct current (HVDC) interconnection between Italy and Tunisia. The scheme will use voltage source converter technology to link the Italian and Tunisian transmission grids, enabling controllable power flows between the two synchronous areas. Civil and geotechnical packages will need to accommodate large converter halls, high electromagnetic loading, and complex earthing systems at both coastal sites.
Technical Brief
- Converter station civil works will need to coordinate with each country’s transmission operator design standards and grid codes.
- Coastal siting on both sides implies geotechnical design around saline groundwater, corrosion, and potential liquefaction screening.
- Large earthing systems and electromagnetic clearances will drive platform extents and buried conductor layouts at each site.
- Construction logistics must accommodate heavy transformer and valve hall module transport through constrained coastal access corridors.
- Similar Mediterranean HVDC interconnectors suggest multi-year delivery, with converter civils often on the project’s critical path.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
