Veitur install cable ducts to cut future excavation
Sunday 11th October 2026 on 14:01 in
Iceland
Veitur is installing concrete cable ducts along a street in Vatnagarðar, in Sundahöfn port, using a method intended to avoid repeated excavation. The work and plans for a new substation were reported by mbl.is.
Contractor Gleipnir has been laying the ducts in a trench along the street. Crews complete and cover sections of 30 to 50 metres before moving on. Each duct bank contains 21 pipes.
Veitur says the ducts will provide routes for electricity cables in the future without the cost, carbon emissions and disruption to neighbours caused by digging more trenches. The utility first used concrete duct banks last year at Holtavegur and along Laugarnes.
The pipes were imported from Norway. Electricity cables will be pulled through them next year, after the full route is ready. Veitur says pulling cables through pipes is preferable on long routes because it reduces the number of joints, which are the weakest points in high-voltage cables.
The pipes will carry three 132-kilovolt cable circuits between the new A13 substation at Vatnagarðar and substation A3 in Borgartún, connecting A13 to Veitur’s wider electricity distribution network. The project also includes three 33-kilovolt circuits, including a high-voltage connection for Faxaflóahafnir to provide shore power to cruise ships. Smaller pipes, measuring 20 and 50 millimetres, are intended for communications lines between substations.
Construction is under way on A13 near Sægarðar. The 1,200-square-metre building will have two floors. Contractor Alefli is building the facility, and the estimated cost of the substation and its connection to the electricity network is 4 billion krónur.
A13 is intended to enable shore power for ships of all sizes calling at Sundahöfn, in line with the port authority’s climate goals. Veitur says the substation will also improve electricity supply reliability across the capital region by reducing pressure on the existing distribution network. It is scheduled to enter service in spring 2029, after high-voltage equipment for 11, 33 and 132 kilovolts has been installed.