Credit: ScotWind
Eastern Green Link 1 scheme would carry wind power between East Lothian and County Durham
Plans to build a 200 kilometre cable under the North Sea that would carry wind power between Scotland and North East England have taken a major step forward this week, with Ofgem yesterday unveiling a provisional £2bn funding package for the project.
The proposed high-voltage subsea cable - dubbed Eastern Green Link 1 (EGL1) - would be capable of transporting 2GW of clean electricity between East Lothian and County Durham, providing a boost to domestic energy security and the UK's pursuit of its net zero targets.
The EGL1 scheme is still subject to securing planning consent, but if approved it is hoped the cable could enter into operation before the end of the decade.
The project is the first of 26 critical energy projects together worth an estimated £20bn that have been earmarked to be fast-tracked under Ofgem's new Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment (ASTI) framework, which is designed to unclog planning system bottlenecks for crucial electricity infrastructure.
Ofgem said the ASTI framework would help to accelerate the funding process for power transmission projects by up to two years, as part of its plans to speed up the UK's notoriously sluggish planning and grid connection processes which can leave projects languishing in the pipeline for years.
"To meet future energy demand and government net zero targets we need to accelerate the pace at which we build the high voltage energy network, which transport homegrown electricity to where it's needed," said Ofgem's director of major projects, Rebecca Barnett. "Eastern Link 1 is the first project to reach this stage under our new fast track ASTI process designed to unlock investment, speed up major power projects and boost Britain's energy security."
The EGL1 project is designed to support the UK's target to have 50GW of offshore wind capacity online by 2030, which will require a major expansion grid capacity, particularly in the Northeast of England, to transmit the vast amounts of wind power generated in Scottish waters.
Ofgem said the cable would not only provide millions of consumers with access to homegrown wind energy, but would also further benefit consumers by cutting compensation paid to wind generators who currently have to turn off their turbines during times of high wind output due to insufficient grid capacity.
The project is set to support the blueprint unveiled last week by National Grid's Electricity System Operator (ESO), which set out a £58bn vision for bolstering the electricity transmission network to enable Britain to operate a fully decarbonised power grid by 2035.
The vast majority of the 196 kilometre cable will be laid under the North Sea, with the remaining 20 kilometre of cables to be situated underground in order to link with substations and converter facilities in Torness, East Lothian, and Hawthorn Pit in County Durham.
The project being developed by National Grid Electricity Transmission alongside SP Transmission, which is part of SP Energy Networks, with a month-long consultation over its proposed £2bn budget launched for consultation by Ofgem yesterday.
The energy regulator said it had scrutinised the initial budget proposed by the developers, through which it identified £43m of indirect cost savings from the plan that would reduce the burden on billpayers.
"We've streamlined the approval process without neglecting our due diligence," Barnett said. "We've carried out rigorous checks to ensure consumers are shielded from unnecessary costs and made cost adjustments, where we don't see maximum efficiency and consumer benefit."
It comes as another longer 2GW subsea cable scheme dubbed EGL2 which would link Peterhead in North East Scotland with the Drax power station in North Yorkshire - which has also separately been approved through the ASTI framework - is currently being progressed by National Grid Electricity Transmission and SSEN Transmission.
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