Britain is working on an ambitious plan for two undersea electricity cables to link Scotland to England, which would transport clean energy generated in Scotland to its southern neighbor. The £3.4 billion project ($4.47 billion) has been positively received by regulator Ofgem, which is opening a consultation process with stakeholders.
The cables form part of a planned 16 project and £10 billion ($13.1 billion) investment from National Grid to reach the UK government’s target of 40GW of offshore wind generation by 2030.
The two undersea cables will have a capacity of up to 4GW, and will transport sufficient electricity to power four million residences. This is a large investment and will create hundreds of green jobs during the construction and the operation of the transmission network.
The first 2GW link will run from Torness, Scotland to the Hawthorn Pit Substation in Durham County, England with approximately 176km of offshore cable. The project is a partnership between National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) and SP Energy Networks. The second 2GW link, a joint venture from NGET and SSEN Transmission, will start from Peterhead in Scotland, and finish at Drax power station in North Yorkshire, England with 440km of undersea cable.
The two projects are destined to be part of National Grid's plans to upgrade the UK's transmission network to increase the amount of offshore wind generation to 40 GW by 2030. This will include fourteen other major projects across both Scotland and England.
Chris Bennett, Interim President at NGET said, “The Scotland to England Green Links form part of £10 billion investment in 16 major projects to help deliver the government’s offshore wind target of 40GW by 2030, a critical step in helping achieve greater energy independence and net zero.”
If approval is granted following consultations, work on the cables should start in 2024, with the first, from Torness being finished in 2027 and the second, from Peterhead having a completion date of 2029.