Belle-Île-en-Mer
Island LinkOperationalFR20 kV15 km2015
Also known as:Quiberon–Belle-Île submarine cable, ERDF Quiberon–Belle-Île cable, Quiberon–Le Palais subsea power + fibre link, Belle Ile 4
Status:Operational
Project Company:Enedis (formerly ERDF)
Type:island link
Expected Life:40 years
Website:lafibre.info
Belle-Île (Quiberon–Belle-Île) submarine distribution cable is a subsea electricity supply link serving the island of Belle-Île-en-Mer (Morbihan, Brittany, France). Installed in 2015 by ERDF (the distribution system operator that rebranded as Enedis), the project consists of a subsea cable and associated onshore connections between the Quiberon / Port‑Maria area on...
Supply Chain (3)
Project Timeline (5)
1 May 2015Commercial Operations Full PowerStale
ERDF planned to energise and put into service a new 14.5–15 km hybrid submarine cable between Quiberon and Belle-Île-en-Mer in early May 2015, replacing one of the island’s three existing electricity supply cables and adding integrated fibre-optic strands to provide very high-speed internet alongside 20 kV power transmission. This €8 million cable, laid from the cable ship Vos Sympathy, is intended to secure Belle-Île’s electricity supply with redundant capacity and deliver long‑term high‑bandwidth connectivity for its 5,400 inhabitants.
12 Mar 2015Cable Installation CompleteStale
Installation of a 14.5 km hybrid submarine cable between Quiberon and Belle-Île-en-Mer for ERDF was underway in March 2015, with the laying operation having started on a Tuesday morning and scheduled to finish on the Thursday afternoon when the cable would be fully pulled ashore, completing the cable installation. The new single-length cable, which replaces one of the three existing electricity supply cables and also integrates fibre-optic strands for high-speed internet, was laid from a cable-laying vessel between Quiberon and a beach on Belle-Île-en-Mer.
10 Mar 2015Cable Installation Start
Cable installation for the Belle-Île-en-Mer hybrid submarine cable began on Tuesday morning, 10 March 2015, when ERDF started the laying operation with the landfall at Quiberon using a cable-laying vessel to pull out the 14.5–15 km cable towards Belle-Île-en-Mer, with works scheduled to continue through Thursday. Preparatory works at the shore sites in Quiberon and Belle-Île had been carried out earlier, and by this date the main offshore laying campaign between Quiberon and Port-Jean (Le Palais) was underway.
1 Feb 2015Onshore Construction Start
In February 2015, during spring tides, ERDF began onshore construction works to prepare the landfall of the new 15 km hybrid submarine power and fibre-optic cable, carrying out shore-connection preparations at Palais on Belle-Île-en-Mer and at Port Maria in Quiberon.
Date TBDCable Supplier Selected
General Cable Europe, through its Silec subsidiary, was selected to supply and manufacture the new 15 km jointless high‑technology submarine cable connecting Quiberon on the mainland to Belle‑Île, providing both medium‑voltage power and 48-fibre optical communications to secure the island’s electricity and data supply. The project required development and testing of multiple prototypes and a bespoke cable design manufactured as a single continuous length, highlighting General Cable/Silec’s role as the main cable supplier for the Belle‑Île interconnector renewal.