- Agreement signed to study the prospects for connecting the Norwegian and British power grids with the world’s longest subsea electricity cable
- Connection nodes could allow offshore windfarms and offshore oil/gas platforms to hook up along the route
- A UK-Norway cable would increase competition, enhance security of supply and help the growth of renewables
National Grid and Statnett, the transmission system operators for Britain and Norway, have signed an agreement to explore the prospects for a High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) cable linking Norway and Great Britain.
Most subsea interconnectors are a traditional point-to point design, linking A to B. However, with an appropriate regulatory model, A UK-Norway cable could include connection nodes along the route with spurs taking power from offshore generation and supplying low carbon electricity to oil and gas platforms, which are heavy electricity consumers. In the future, this network could have the potential to become the backbone of a new North Sea “supergrid”.
The Norwegian and UK Energy Ministers encouraged the development of a link between the electricity networks of the two countries earlier in the year. By linking the Norwegian and British grids, allowing the two-way flow of electricity as well as potentially connecting up users on the route, a UK-Norway cable would allow the optimal use across both countries of new large scale wind energy (and other variable renewable generation), Norwegian hydro power and British thermal power (including new low carbon CCS coal power in the future). This would:
- Reduce climate change emissions
- Increase security of supply, and be a valuable tool to help balance supply and demand despite the variability of wind generation
- Increase competition in the electricity market
A UK-Norway cable would be owned 50% each by Statnett and National Grid. The landing point on the Norwegian side would be Kvilldal in Rogaland, while the landing point on the eastern coast of England has not yet been finalised.
National Grid and Statnett have already carried out a pre-feasibility study which has suggested that the UK-Norway cable, including the nodes along the route, could be economically and technically viable. The agreement signed by the two companies, which runs until 2011, will allow further work to answer key questions such as the optimal route for the cable and the best regulatory model for the project to ensure appropriate returns on this major long term investment. The project may then proceed to the next stage of formal planning and licence applications in Norway and Britain after which a final investment decision would be made.
Auke Lont, CEO of Statnett, said:
“A connection between Norway and Great Britain will be valuable both for Norway and UK. A future connection will facilitate generation of renewable energy, improve security of supply and contribute to value creation.”
Nick Winser, National Grid’s Executive Director for Transmission, said:
“This is a really exciting opportunity. 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, and if a UK-Norway link can become the backbone of a new North Sea 'supergrid', it will play an especially valuable role.”
-Ends-
For further media information only, please contact:
National Grid:
Stewart Larque, +44 (0)1926 655274, stewart.larque@uk.ngrid.com
Statnett :
Tor Inge Akselsen, +(47) 950 79 520, tor.akselsen@statnett.no
Gunnar Romsaas, +(47) 2252 7577, gunnar.romsaas@statnett.no