On 25 March 2025, Nexans secured a framework agreement with RTE valued at more than EUR 1 billion to design, manufacture, supply, install, and commission approximately 450 km of subsea and 280 km of onshore HVDC cables to connect three offshore wind farms—Centre Manche 1, Centre Manche 2, and Île d’Oléron (AO7)—to the French transmission network. For the Oléron HVDC (AO7) export system, this multi‑project framework establishes Nexans as the provider of HVDC subsea and land cables, with project‑specific EPCI contracts and final quantities to be agreed in subsequent phases.
In August 2024, Réseau de Transport d’Electricité (RTE) awarded a multi‑project contract worth around €4.5 billion to a consortium of Hitachi Energy and Chantiers de l’Atlantique for the onshore converter stations and offshore HVDC platforms serving three French offshore wind farms: Centre Manche 1, Centre Manche 2, and Île d’Oléron (AO7). For the Oléron HVDC (AO7) grid connection, this contract confirms Hitachi Energy and Chantiers de l’Atlantique as the suppliers responsible for delivering the ±320 kV HVDC offshore platform and associated onshore converter station that will connect the up to 1.2 GW Oléron 1 wind farm, located more than 35 km off the island of Oléron, to the RTE transmission network.
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Oléron HVDC (AO7, "Oléron 1") is the high-voltage direct current grid connection planned to link the Sud-Atlantique – Oléron 1 offshore wind farm zone (AO7) to the French mainland transmission network. Developed and owned by the French TSO RTE under the TSO-build-own model, the connection is desi...
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Oléron 1 grid connection, AO7 Oléron 1 HVDC, South Atlantic (Oléron 1) HVDC connection, RTE OLE HVDC link