First Subsea Electricity Cable Between Scotland And England

20th February 2012

National Grid and ScottishPower Transmission have awarded a contract for construction of the first ever subsea electricity link between Scotland and England & Wales.

The £1 billion contract has been awarded to Germany's Siemens and Italian cable manufacturer Prysmian.

The major grid upgrade will increase the capacity of electricity flowing between England and Scotland by more than 2,000 megawatts, allowing new renewable energy projects to be developed in Scotland that could power three million homes.

The announcement comes shortly after Ofgem agreed to fast track ScottishPower's plans for transmission network upgrades between 2013 and 2021.

Due to be operational by 2016, the 260 mile-long high voltage cable link will run from Hunterston in Ayrshire to a landing point on the Wirral peninsula. Subject to planning approvals, the link will be one of the first major upgrades to be delivered as part of ScottishPower's approved plans.

The link will be the longest high capacity HVDC (high voltage direct current) cable in the world. It will also be the first sub-sea interconnector ever using a DC voltage level of 600 kilovolts (Kv). This will result in the link electricity capacity being increased and there will be lower transmission losses, the companies said.

The link will also be bi-directional, allowing electricity to flow north or south according to future supply and demand.

Ignacio Galán, chairman of ScottishPower, said:"The HVDC link is a major project in the context of a vital upgrading of the UK electricity grid over the coming years, with the electricity grid between Scotland and England already running close to maximum capacity. The additional capacity from this link will provide a significant boost to renewable energy projects being developed in Scotland in order to bring clean energy to consumers throughout the country and at the same time help meet carbon reduction targets.

"We are fully committed to playing our part in the government's planned infrastructure development programme, and expect to invest a total of £2.6 billion between 2013 and 2021 on upgrading our transmission network in the UK. Overall, we are projecting investments totalling £12 billion in the UK over the course of this decade, including major offshore wind projects around the country."

Frank Mitchell, CEO of ScottishPower Energy Networks, said: "This project has been under development for over three years and the deployment of this technology at such a large scale is leading edge. It will create a benchmark for future projects both in the UK and globally and will help connect existing renewable projects that are waiting to be linked into the grid."