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We are building the world’s largest high voltage offshore cable production site

About us
Production
Karlskrona

With a key geographical location – close to Europe’s offshore wind market, we are a leading supplier for renewable power transition with more than 50 awarded projects for offshore wind since 2010. EU aims to be climate neutral in 2050 with 300 GW renewable wind power – that will need a 25-fold increase in offshore wind capacity by 2050.

We have invested heavily in our cable factory in Karlskrona to meet the demands of the green transition. In recent years, we have expanded the factory with for example a second cable tower NKT Lighthouse, a state-of-the-art cable laying vessel NKT Victoria, a new test laboratory and, not least, in our employees.

The latest and ongoing investment will turn the site into the world's largest production site for high voltage offshore cables - our expansion with a new third extrusion tower allows us to meet the growing demand for both larger and longer high voltage offshore cables needed in the green transition. The tower in the new factory will be the second highest tower in Sweden.

Our high voltage cables systems are connecting countries bringing renewable energy from one place to another. We connect a greener world.

Highlights of investment

Overview of capacity expansion project at NKT in Karlskrona

Extrusion capacity increase - making it the world’s largest high voltage offshore cable production plant
Sweden’s second highest tower
Increase NKT employees with 500 persons – our largest production site
Market-leading cable installation vessel with record-high capacity
The new assets will be operational from 2027

The second tallest tower in Sweden

Tower sizes compared to the other big towers in Sweden

The new cable tower will be one of Sweden’s tallest towers when ready, reaching impressive 200 meter above the ground. Only Karlatornet in Gothenburg (245 m) is taller.

Facts on the new third tower

200 m over ground, 15 m underground
23 x 23 m wide and 20 floors
Construction period 2023-2027

In the tower, NKT will produce power cables up to 640 kV

In the tower, the insulation system of the cable is applied through extrusion. The high tower is needed for the cooling of the cable which is hanging in a vertical position.

The cables could be produced for up to 640,000 volt direct current (DC) and 3 gigawatt – equivalent to the power for all households in Denmark.

Learn more about how a cable is produced and installed

NKT's third tower will become a landmark as Sweden's second tallest tower and establish Karlskrona on the world map. I am proud to be a part of this.

The tower is primarily a facility for producing world-class high-voltage cables, where the function provides the conditions for both the shape and height of the building. Situated near the sea on an island in Karlskrona, the tower's clean concrete facade and rounded corners give it a sturdiness that resists the harshest storms.

The top of the tower is the part that will be most visible in large parts of Karlskrona municipality, which requires special care in its design. As the tower stretches towards the sky, the blue color allows them to merge clear blue days and blur the line between them. This emphasizes the transition between the raw functional concrete and the sky blue facade whose slope creates a dynamic gesture pointing to the clouds.

Cecilia Bolinder, architect JAARK/Projektbyggaren

With its 150 meters, the lighthouse outside Alexandria's harbour was an impressive sight. A clear guide for sailors on their way to one of the most important cities of antiquity. Such a unique edifice that it was considered one of the seven wonders of antiquity. So why start a text about the construction of a process tower in Karlskrona by telling a story about the lighthouse outside Alexandria? Where is the connection?

When the king, Karl XI, founded Karlskrona in 1680, he put his most talented city planners and architects to work on planning and designing the new naval city. Erik Dahlbergh, one of the most well-known architects of the time, was commissioned to draw a landmark, a new belfry adjacent to the naval port. His inspiration and role model for the project became the lighthouse in Alexandria.

Today, Karlskrona is a World Heritage City. A stone's throw from the city centre, is the location of NKT's world-leading process for cable manufacturing. This process requires a new building with a unique structure and design. With a building height of 150 meters, it will be a prominent building close to the old naval city of Karlskrona.

The city's history of shipping provided early role models for the design. Lighthouses are iconic buildings with strong symbolic values. Signpost, bright and stable are words that define lighthouses. The words also describe NKT's participation in the future. A future that places high demands on high-tech and innovative solutions for rapid energy conversion.

NKT's new cable manufacturing tower is the lighthouse of the new era. A 150-meter-high concrete tower with an interior defined by structure and order for a high-tech manufacturing process.

Like all lighthouses, NKT's cable tower also has a glass prism at the top.

A prism that with its design challenges and move boundaries.

A prism that sends signals and guides.

The new tower is a high-tech lighthouse, a stable signpost to the future.

Thomas Lind, Senior Architect, AUR arkitekter AB