The world’s largest cable laying vessel – the ‘Prysmian Leonardo da Vinci’ – is in UK waters to install 140km of underwater cabling, part of NeuConnect, the first direct interconnector between the GB and German electricity networks.
The £2.4 billion interconnector will link the Isle of Grain in Kent and Wilhelmshaven in northern Germany via 725km of land and subsea cables. It will allow 1.4GW of electricity to flow in either direction.
Led by investors Meridiam, Allianz, Kansai Electric Power and Tepco, work started on NeuConnect in July 2023 will become one of the world’s largest interconnectors – between will form an ‘invisible energy highway’ to connect two of Europe’s largest energy markets for the first time.

Contractor Prysmian, responsible for the design, manufacturing, installation, testing and commissioning of NeuConnect’s cabling, completed an initial phase of work in the UK in late 2024 and it will now resume. Over three months, the vessel will lay 140km of subsea cabling in UK waters with cabling buried beneath the seabed for protection and to minimise any impacts on the marine environment. The cabling works will utilise Prysmian’s proprietary submarine cable burial tools which are designed and stored in its global marine base in Middlesbrough, England
The NeuConnect project is expected to be operational by 2028.