Eastern Green Links are two planned submarine high voltage direct current power cables from the East coast of Scotland to Northeast England to strengthen the National Grid. The two links combined will deliver 4 GW of renewable energy from Scottish wind farms to England.
Ofgem state that "At an estimated cost of £3.4 billion for the two links, the Eastern HVDC projects would be the largest electricity transmission investment project in the recent history of Great Britain."[1] They approved the schemes as part of the Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment Framework.[2]
In July 2022, Ofgem published its conditional decision on the Final needs case for the Eastern HVDC project, confirming its choice of two separate HVDC links, each rated at 2 GW.[1]
Scotland-England Green Link 1 (SEGL1)
editSEGL1 will run from Torness in Southeast Scotland to Hawthorn Pit substation in Murton, County Durham.[3] Landfall in England will be to the North of Seaham, on the Durham Coast.[4] It is developed by Scottish Power Transmission plc (SPT) and National Grid Electricity Transmission plc (National Grid)[3] with a budget of £1.294 billion.[1]
In December 2022, the connection received approval from the UK energy regulator Ofgem.[2] [5] As of July 2024, construction was expected to run from 2025 to 2029.[6]
The cable will carry 2 GW.[5] The DC voltage will be +/-525 kV, using voltage source converter (VSC) technology, carried on cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) cables, with a fall back option of mass impregnated (MI) cables.[1]
Eastern Green Link 2 (EGL2)
editThe cable will run from Sandford Bay, at Peterhead in Scotland, to the Drax Power Station in Yorkshire, England. The northern converter station will be next to the existing power station at Peterhead. [5] The subsea portion of the cable will be approximately 440 km (270 mi) long, from the Aberdeenshire coast to the East Riding of Yorkshire.[7]
EGL2 is a joint venture between SSEN Transmission and National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET).[5] with a budget of £2.1 billion. It is needed to reinforce the National Grid, to "alleviate existing and future constraints on the electricity transmission network", and support new renewable electricity generation.[5] The main contractors are Prysmian, Hitachi Energy, and BAM.[8]
Contracts to construct the cable were finalised in February 2024, and work is scheduled to commence after the final approvals from OfGEM[8][9] came in August 2024.[10] Target date for energisation was 2029.[5]
The cable will carry 2 GW.[5] The DC voltage will be +/-525 kV, using Voltage Source converter (VSC) technology, carried on Cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) cables, with a fall back option of mass impregnated (MI) cables.[1]
Further proposals
editEastern Green Link 3 is proposed from Aberdeenshire to Lincolnshire and Eastern Green Link 4 is proposed from Fife to Lincolnshire.[11]
See also
edit
References
edit- ^ a b c d e "Eastern HVDC – Conditional Decision on the projects' Final Needs Case". Ofgem. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
- ^ a b "New subsea cables 'could help ease energy crisis'". BBC News: Highlands and Islands. BBC. 15 Dec 2022. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
- ^ a b "Eastern Green Link 2". SSEN Projects. SSEN. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
- ^ "Scotland to England Green Link - SEGL1". National Grid. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Green Links All Go!". SSEN News and Views. SSEN. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
- ^ "Eastern Green Link 1". www.easterngreenlink1.co.uk. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
- ^ "Eastern HVDC Link" (PDF). SSEN. October 2021. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
- ^ a b Dimitris Mavrokefalidis (1 March 2024). "UK's largest subsea cable deal sealed". Energy Live News. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
- ^ "EGL2 gets provisional regulatory approval". transformers-magazine.com. March 29, 2024.
- ^ Sanderson, Cosmo (13 August 2024). "New $5.5bn UK electricity 'superhighway' to ease wind power bottleneck". rechargenews.com.
- ^ "Eastern Green Link 3 and Eastern Green Link 4 | National Grid Group". www.nationalgrid.com. Retrieved 13 August 2024.