Basslink Completes Subsea Cable Repair; Tests Underway
Basslink informed that the third and final joint of the cable repair has been completed and tested.
The cable bight has also been laid and the entire length of the single piece of cable is currently on the seabed.
The Basslink subsea cable, connecting George Town in Tasmania and Loy Yang in Victoria, experienced a fault in December last year.
The Basslink team will start a range of land-based tests of both the electricity interconnector as well as the fibre optic telecommunications cable, and all associated equipment on either side of Bass Strait, the company informed.
These tests and reburial of the cable will be conducted over the next week, with a view to return the electricity interconnector and the telecommunications cable to service before the end of June, Basslink added.
CEO Malcolm Eccles said: “There has been well over one hundred people working incredibly hard at sea and on land to rectify the fault. It has been an extremely challenging six months, and we are grateful to have had such a committed team working with us.
“Subject to some final testing and satisfactory weather conditions, we will rebury the cable in the next few days, and re-commission our converter stations at George Town and Loy Yang with a view to return both the electricity interconnector and the telecommunications cable to service as soon as possible,” said Eccles.
