Submarine power cable sample, made by Prysmian in 2011. The cable is the same type used in Vattenfall’s offshore wind farm at Thanet, Kent.

Power export cables laid underground and underwater safely transport low carbon electricity to the grid. This cable can carry around 180 megawatts of power from an off-shore windfarm. That’s enough to boil 60,000 kettles simultaneously! Even bigger cables, called interconnectors, link the National Grid to supply networks in mainland Europe.