“A leap into the unknown”
Nemo Link through the eyes of Davy, technician
In 2016, Elia and National Grid started building a physical electrical connection between the high-voltage grids in Belgium and the United Kingdom. A milestone not only in our history, but in the history of the international energy market. The fact that Nemo Link is still working as planned a few years after being commissioned is due, in part, to Elia technicians like Davy.
The technicians working on Nemo Link today and handling everyday duties joined the project a year before the end of construction. That gave us a chance to get a broad and in-depth knowledge of the facilities.
Today we play a coordinating role. Monitoring projects, securing operations, carrying out work, performing annual maintenance and more. We work to ensure a stable grid in two countries. This interconnector is of enormous importance, especially when countries are increasingly dependent on each other for electricity.
Each of us on the team has his or her own speciality. Grids, high voltage, low voltage, etc. But our knowledge isn’t limited to those specialities. We back each other up, we keep each other informed and we train each other. And we have a chance to work with the latest technologies.
When I first heard about the project, it was still early days. It was very much a leap into the unknown. No one had ever done this before. Being able to take part as an Elia employee made it challenging and interesting.
Being part of the development experience brings an extra dimension to your learning process. We were trained at Siemens to learn how the converters work. That's important because we provided the secondary systems that make everything work. We gave plenty of input and contributed to the success of Nemo Link.
The whole team is proud of what we achieved with relatively few setbacks. All with our own input. And Nemo Link is still performing great today. This was a unique opportunity that I couldn't pass up.
It was enormously satisfying to see how much attention was paid to the input from our technical personnel in such a huge project involving so many clever minds from Belgium and other countries. If another project like this comes along, I'll definitely sign up for it – guaranteed.
Do you also want to be part of major projects at Elia? Then check out our vacancies.
