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UK and Norway to explore subsea electricity connection

UK electricity network operator National Grid has announced it is working with its Norwegian counterpart Statnett on a possible subsea electricity connection.

If the plans to link the UK and Norway’s power grids go ahead, the connection would be the world’s longest subsea electricity cable.

A UK-Norway high voltage direct current (HVDC) could connect up offshore wind farms and oil/gas platforms as well. It could form the backbone of a new North Sea ‘supergrid’, say the companies.

The connection would allow a two-way flow of electricity between Norway’s existing hydro power plants and the UK’s coal-fired power stations, but in future would facilitate increased wind power capacity.

The two companies have already carried out a feasibility study into the jointly-owned cable and will now undertake further work before moving forward to the planning and licensing stage.

“This is a really exciting opportunity,” says National Grid’s executive director for transmission Nick Winser. “Greater interconnection with Europe will be an important tool to help us balance the system with large quantities of variable wind generation in the UK.”

“It will certainly help with the reduction of conventional power stations in the UK and the variability of energy from wind farm projects,” agrees Jean-Pascal Boutin, senior associate at international law firm Eversheds.

“It also raises a number of interesting issues, namely whether UK renewable benefits will be available to continental generators, how the increased exposure to the European electricity market will impact on the UK local electricity market and whether there are any opportunities for offshore generators to connect with the interconnector,” he adds.

For further information:
www.nationalgrid.com
www.statnett.no
www.eversheds.com

08 October 2009

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