A newly-completed 450-mile cable between Britain and Norway will soon begin to pass electricity between the two countries. The North Sea Link connects Blyth, north of Newcastle, with Norway’s coastal community of Kvilldal, in Rogaland.
Hydropower from the Norwegian fjords will be brought to the UK whilst wind generation from Scotland and Northumbria will be exported. It is anticipated that North Sea Link will transport enough clean energy to power up to 1.4m homes. It is due to become operational on 1st October.
Benefits of North Sea Link include:
- Providing opportunities for shared use of renewable, helping both countries to meet climate change targets
- Increasing the security of electricity supplies for both countries
- Providing additional transmission capacity for electricity to be traded between Norway and the UK.
The link will be the longest subsea interconnector in the world and has taken four years to build. The final cable was laid in June. It has been constructed by Statnett and National Grid North Sea Link Limited, and has cost €1.5bn, with more than four million hours spent on the project to date, with 5,880 days at sea working on the various stages of the project.
Nigel Williams, North Sea Link Project Director for National Grid, said: “North Sea Link is a remarkable feat of engineering, but more importantly, it represents two countries working together to maximise their renewable energy resources for mutual benefit. Between the start of operation and the end of the decade, we estimate that NSL will save 23,000 million tonnes of carbon – making it a key tool in the UK’s journey to net zero.”
For more information, visit North Sea Link.
