Europe’s grid operators have never had more work on the table. TenneT, Amprion, National Grid, Elia and other major transmission system operators are running multi-year upgrade programmes to keep pace with offshore wind, interconnectors and electrification. For cable companies bidding into these programmes, tender documents are thick, technical specifications are exacting and competition is fierce. However, the project’s most critical risk often sits where HV cable jointing turns a manufactured cable into a live connection.
There is a part of every project that decides whether it succeeds long after the tender is awarded: the joint.
Manufacturing quality does not survive a bad termination
A cable can leave the factory perfectly tested, certified and engineered, then still fail in the field. Every HV cable run ends at a point where it stops being a manufactured product and becomes a live connection. That transition is done by hand, under time pressure, often at height or offshore, by a small and shrinking pool of certified HV jointers.
This is the part of a bid that cable companies cannot manufacture their way out of. Reliable HV cable jointing depends on experience built in the field, not only in a factory. You can scale cable production, but you cannot scale skilled hands at the same rate. As a result, execution risk shapes the way a grid operator’s evaluation committee reads a bid.
We call these points critical connections. Each one is a place in the network where 99% right is still 100% wrong. A joint does not partially hold.
Why HV cable jointing decides project delivery
When a transmission system operator scores a bid, it is buying confidence that the project finishes on schedule, passes commissioning and does not return as a warranty claim two years later. That confidence lives or dies with execution capacity: who is doing the jointing, how they are trained, how their work is verified and whether there is enough capacity to meet the programme timeline.
This is where many bids are thin. Subcontracted labour is named late, capacity is assumed rather than proven, and quality assurance is described in a paragraph instead of demonstrated through a process.
How Reynard secures critical connections
Reynard exists specifically for these points in the network. We are a recognised termination and testing partner of Siemens Energy, with more than a decade of experience terminating and testing HV cable in offshore wind projects around the world. Our high-voltage specialists qualify through our own DNV-certified Jointer Academy and complete a practical Skills Test before they set foot on a live project. It is a hands-on assessment, not a paper certification.
We staff internationally through an Employer of Record structure, which lets us deploy certified jointers across borders without the usual cross-border labour delays. Every joint we make is built, tested and documented to the standard that makes a commissioning engineer’s job easier rather than more anxious.
We also address scarcity structurally rather than reactively. Factory-terminated cable assemblies shift as much risk as possible from the field into a controlled environment. Consequently, less critical hand-built work has to happen under pressure.
Engage early and strengthen the bid
The companies that get ahead do not wait until after award to source jointing capacity. They name their execution partner in the bid itself, because a transmission system operator wants to see that the hardest, most craft-dependent part of the project is already solved, rather than still being figured out.
Certified HV jointers are a finite resource across Europe. Cable companies that lock in proven HV cable jointing capacity early strengthen their bid. The cable gets you to the connection. What happens there determines whether the grid holds.
Want to discuss how Reynard’s high-voltage specialist teams can strengthen your next tender submission? Get in touch with our team.
