Construction underway on subsea electricity superhighway in the North Sea

Construction has started on a subsea electricity superhighway which will help expand the grid for the future. As well as supporting long-term local development for regional communities playing host to the critical electricity infrastructure.

Eastern Green Link 1, a joint venture between SP Energy Networks and National Grid Electricity Transmission, will transport green electricity for two million homes along over 190km of predominantly undersea cable linking the south-east of Scotland with the north-east of England.

The £2.5bn project was given the green light by Ofgem last year and onshore works are now underway with offshore construction due to start in the summer.  At the cable’s two landfall points, Torness, in East Lothian, and Hawthorn Pit, in County Durham, two converter stations will be built to change the electricity from alternating to direct current – the most efficient way for it to travel long distances.  Specialist boats are then used to lay the cable across the seabed and bury it throughout the route before connecting it to the grid.    

Today in Torness, SP Energy Networks CEO, Nicola Connelly and National Grid Electricity Transmission President of Strategic Infrastructure, Carl Trowell, were joined by Minister for Housing and MSP for East Lothian, Paul McLennan, to mark construction getting underway. 

Together, SP Energy Networks and National Grid Electricity Transmission already own and operate the Western Link, the world’s highest capacity subsea cable, and one of the longest, connecting Hunterston in Scotland to Connah’s Quay in Wales. Operational since 2017, the link supported over 450 jobs during planning and development and has transmitted over 30,000GWh of electricity during its first five years of operation – enough to power all the homes in Wales for the same period.

You can read the full article at the ScottishPower Press Room.