Great Britain’s Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) has approved five major new undersea energy links which will provide additional channels for exporting wind energy in times of energy surplus, and importing the renewable energy during times of more limited domestic supply.
Two of the greenlit projects will also create Great Britain’s first Offshore Hybrid Assets (OHAs) which can directly feed energy generated by offshore wind farms into both GB and European grids. The new projects are:
- Tarchon Energy Interconnector: This 610-kilometer (km) subsea cable between East Anglia and Niederlangen, Germany is expected to deliver up to 1.4 gigawatts (GW) of electricity capacity.
- Mares Connect: This 190km subsea cable between Bodelwyddan, North Wales, to the Republic of Ireland, is expected to deliver .75GW of additional electricity capacity.
- LirIC: This approximately 142km subsea electricity interconnector between Kilroot in Northern Ireland to Hunterston in Ayrshire, Scotland is expected to deliver .7GW of additional electricity capacity.
OHA (Offshore Hybrid Assets):
- LionLink: This OHA will connect Dutch offshore wind farms to the GB grid with an onshore landing point in Suffolk and is expected to provide up to 1.8GW of clean electricity to each country.
- Nautilus: This OHA will connect Belgium offshore wind farms to the GB grid, coming ashore at the Isle of Grain in Kent, and expected to provide up to 1.4GW of offshore wind to each country through subsea electricity cables.
The new projects are all expected to be complete and operational by the end of 2032; Britain expects to be a net exporter of renewable energy by the 2030s.
Akshay Kaul, Director General for Infrastructure at Ofgem, said, “As we shift to a clean power system more reliant on intermittent wind and solar energy, 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.”
