UK Approves 5 New Interconnector Projects
Five major undersea energy links have been approved by Ofgem, these new connections are set to harness the vast potential of North Sea wind and provide power to millions of homes.
The new connections will operate under Ofgem's cap and floor rules, which limit revenue for interconnectors, ensuring consumer costs remain as low as possible.
Akshay Kaul, Director General for Infrastructure at Ofgem, emphasized the importance of these projects: "These new connections will help harness the vast potential of the North Sea and play a key role in making our energy supply cheaper and less reliant on volatile foreign gas markets and associated price spikes."
Kaul also highlighted the potential for Great Britain to become a net energy exporter in the 2030s, equipped with world-leading technology to export surplus clean power overseas while maintaining access to vital backup energy sources.
The following projects have been greenlit:
Interconnectors:
1. Tarchon Energy Interconnector: A 610km subsea cable between East Anglia and Niederlangen, Germany, with up to 1.4GW capacity
2. Mares Connect: A 190km subsea cable linking Bodelwyddan, North Wales, to the Republic of Ireland, providing 0.75GW additional capacity
3. LirIC: A 142km subsea interconnector between Kilroot, Northern Ireland, and Hunterston, Scotland, delivering 0.7GW additional capacity
Offshore Hybrid Assets (OHAs):
1. LionLink: Connecting Dutch offshore windfarms to the GB grid, with a landing point in Suffolk, providing up to 1.8GW of clean electricity to each country
2. Nautilus: Linking Belgian offshore windfarms to the GB grid, coming ashore at the Isle of Grain in Kent, supplying up to 1.4GW of offshore wind to each country
All projects are expected to be operational by the end of 2032.
OHAs combine interconnection with the transmission of electricity generated by offshore windfarms and create direct links between power grids and windfarms. OHAs offer several advantages, including maximized efficiency through one-stop connections and a reduced infrastructure footprint. These innovative assets also promise decreased community and environmental impacts while positioning Great Britain as a world leader in emerging energy technology. By combining interconnection and offshore wind connection into a single asset, OHAs streamline the transmission process, allowing for more efficient use of resources and a smaller environmental impact.
Currently there is only one OHA operational in the world Kriegers Flak in the Baltic Sea, which connects Germany’s Baltic II wind farm with the electricity grids of both Germany and Denmark, enabling clean energy to be shared between the two nations.
With the approval of Lion Link and Nautilus, GB will be positioned to be a world leader in OHA interconnection technology.
Britain to become a net exporter of Energy
Delivering three new electricity interconnector cables linking Great Britain to overseas energy markets along with GB’s first two Offshore Hybrid Assets (OHAs), combining interconnection with transmission links to offshore wind farms, the decision will boost energy export and import capacity by over 6GW, taking GB’s capacity to over 18GW by 2032, provided all Ofgem approved interconnectors are completed on schedule (for context one gigawatt (GW) is equivalent to one billion watts, and one gigawatt hour (GWh) of electricity is enough to power one million homes for one hour) .
Analysis by both Ofgem and the National Energy System Operator (NESO) has concluded that GB will become a net energy exporter by 2030 due to the growing amount of renewable generation
