The North Sea Link is a 1,400MW
high-voltage direct current
A high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electric power transmission system (also called a power superhighway or an electrical superhighway) uses direct current (DC) for electric power transmission, in contrast with the more common alternating curre ...
submarine power cable
A submarine power cable is a transmission cable for carrying electric power below the surface of the water.[interconnector
An interconnector (also known as a DC tie in the USA) is a structure which enables high voltage DC electricity to flow between electrical grids. An electrical interconnector allows electricity to flow between separate AC networks, or to link sy ...]
in the world. The cable became operational on 1 October 2021.
Route
![Norway United Kingdom North Sea Link](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Norway_United_Kingdom_North_Sea_Link.png)
The cable runs from
Kvilldal,
Suldal, in Norway, to
Cambois
Cambois ( ) is a village in south-east Northumberland, England. It is situated on the north side of the estuary of the River Blyth between Blyth and Ashington on the North Sea coast.
Etymology
According to earlier scholarship, the etymology ...
near
Blyth in England.
[
The converter station is located near to the cable landfall in East Sleekburn and is connected to the National Grid at the Blyth substation.
]
Technical description
The cable is long,[ and has a capacity of 1,400MW.]
The estimated cost of the project was €2billion, and it became operational in 2021, as planned.
Project participants
It is a joint project of the transmission system operators Statnett and National Grid.
The offshore cable was supplied by Prysmian
Prysmian S.p.A. is an Italian company with headquarters in Milan, specialising in the production of electrical cable for use in the energy and telecom sectors and for optical fibres. Prysmian is present in North America with 23 plants, 48 in Eur ...
and manufactured at the Arco Felice factory in Naples, Italy. It was installed by the cable-laying vessel ''Giulio Verne''.[ Cable for the fjord, tunnel and lake sections, and the onshore connection in Norway, was supplied by ]Nexans
Nexans S.A. is a global company in the cable and optical fiber industry headquartered in Paris, France.
The group is active in four main business areas: buildings and territories (construction, local infrastructure, smart cities / grids, e-mobil ...
and manufactured at Nexans' plant in Halden, Norway. It was laid by using the Capjet trenching system and the cable-laying vessel ''Skagerrak''.[ The HVDC converter stations were built and installed by the ABB Group.][
]
Project history
The project was first proposed in 2003, when Statnett and National Grid planned a 1,200MW interconnector between Suldal in Norway and Easington, County Durham
County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly â€About North East E ...
, in the United Kingdom. This project was suspended.
In October 2009, Statnett and National Grid announced they were conducting a feasibility study of the cable. According to the pre-feasibility study the project would be economically and technologically feasible. It would be a commercial cable jointly owned by Statnett and National Grid NSN Link, a subsidiary of National Grid.[
]
In 2010, there was speculation that the interconnection may also connect the North Sea wind farm
A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used Wind power, to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundre ...
s as well as offshore oil and gas platform
An oil platform (or oil rig, offshore platform, oil production platform, and similar terms) is a large structure with facilities to extract and process petroleum and natural gas that lie in rock formations beneath the seabed. Many oil platfor ...
s, becoming the backbone of the proposed North Sea Offshore Grid
The North Sea Offshore Grid, officially the North Seas Countries Offshore Grid Initiative (NSCOGI), was a collaboration between EU member-states and Norway to create an integrated offshore energy grid which links wind farms and other renewable en ...
.[
][
] In 2014, National Grid quoted various groups in favour of more interconnections.
The route survey of the offshore section was conducted by MMT in 2012.[
][
]
In March 2015, Statnett and National Grid announced a decision to start the construction phase,[
] a month after Nemo link, a similar connection between the United Kingdom and Belgium, was announced. Along with Viking Link
Viking Link is a 1,400 MW HVDC submarine power cable under construction between the United Kingdom and Denmark.
Current status
Land cables and submarine cables are being installed since 2020 and expected to finish in 2023. As of August 2022 Den ...
from Denmark, they would increase the UK's electricity interconnection level (transmission capacity relative to production capacity) from the 6% it was in 2014.[COM/2015/082 final: "Achieving the 10% electricity interconnection target]
TextPDF
pp.2–5. ''European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
'', 25 February 2015
ArchiveMirror
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Construction of the UK on-shore cable between the landfall at Bucca headland and the converter station site at East Sleekburn was completed in February 2020, with the converter station under construction. The cable crossed the Norwegian trench. A tunnel was drilled from the fjord through the mountain to the lake Suldalsvatnet
Suldalsvatnet ( en, Lake Suldal) is the sixth-deepest lake in Norway. The deep lake lies in the municipality of Suldal in Rogaland county, Norway. The lake is the headwaters of the river Suldalslågen and it sits at an elevation of above ...
, and the cable was floated across the lake to the Kvilldal connection point. , the converter station in Suldal had been connected to the grid.
On 8 June 2021, it was announced that construction had been completed, and after a period of testing the interconnector became operational on 1 October 2021. Initially the link operated at a maximum of 700MW, half its capacity, and then increased to a gigawatt. A flaw in the English converter restricts power for the time being, until the full 1,400MW can be achieved. The interconnector was switched from monopole to bipole operation in January 2022.
Economic effect
Once fully operational, the North Sea Link will give the UK access to the south Norway bidding area () of Nord Pool Spot, with an annual transmission capacity of 12.3TWh.[ According to analysis by the United Kingdom market regulator Ofgem, in the base case scenario the cable would contribute around £490million to the welfare of the United Kingdom and around £330million to the welfare of Norway. In this analysis, over the 25-year cap and floor regime (a regulation for how much money a developer can earn once the interconnector is in operation) the benefit to United Kingdom consumers is expected to be around £3.5billion under the base case scenario. This could reduce the average domestic consumer bill in the United Kingdom by around £2 per year.][
]
According to Auke Lont, CEO of Statnett, Norway may use the interconnector to import electricity at times of peak supply in the United Kingdom, which could allow a temporary reduction in hydroelectric output in Norway and a corresponding increase at peak Norwegian demand times.[
]
In 2014, the Norwegian energy service provider Markedskraft analysed the impact of two interconnectors under construction from Norway: the North Sea Link and NorGer
NorGer was one of two planned electricity cables between Germany and Norway. The other proposed project was NordLink, which Statnett decided to proceed with in 2015, and NorGer was cancelled.
Description
NorGer interconnector will start in Tons ...
, a submarine cable of identical capacity connecting Norway with Germany. The electricity will at any moment flow towards the country with the highest price and these price differentials generate income for the interconnector whether the electricity flows one way or the other. Markedskraft estimated that while the Norwegian import and export via NorGer will zero out in 2020, the annual net export to the UK via North Sea Link is projected to be about 10TWh, i.e. almost all of the interconnector's annual capacity. Markedskraft go on to estimate that the increased demand for Norwegian electricity via North Sea Link will increase the price of electricity in Norway by 25NOK
Nok is a village in Jaba Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. The village is an archeological site.
Archaeology
The discovery of terracotta figurines at this location caused its name to be used for the Nok culture, of which these ...
/MWh (ca. 2.6 €/MWh). A 2016 study expects the two cables to increase price in South Norway by 2øre/kWh, less than other factors. Statnett said in March 2022 that the very high European gas prices were the main factor of the large increase in electricity prices in Southern Norway in late 2021. The two new cables NSL and NordLink, were responsible for €5―15/MWh, or 10% of the increase for the entire year. Statnett predicts more hours with imports of zero price electricity, as the rest of Europe gets more solar and wind power.
See also
*Icelink
Icelink is a proposed electricity interconnector between Iceland and the United Kingdom via Great Britain. At , the 8001,200MW high-voltage direct current (HVDC) link would be the longest sub-sea power interconnector in the world.
The project pa ...
*NorthConnect
The NorthConnect (also known as Scotland–Norway interconnector) is a proposed 1,400MW HVDC interconnector over the floor of the North Sea.
Current status
The future of the project is unclear. In March 2020, the Norwegian Government placed the ...
* NorNed
*NeuConnect
NeuConnect is an HVDC submarine power cable under construction between England and Germany.
Project Status
As of December 2022, early construction works have started in Wilhelmshaven and Isle of Grain, and manufacture of the cable has starte ...
*NORD.LINK
NordLink is a subsea 1,400 megawatt (MW) HVDC power cable between Norway and Germany, opened in May 2021. The over long cable operates at a voltage of 500 kV DC.
The cable enables Deutsche Bahn to buy the full production from MÃ ...
*BritNed
BritNed is a 1,000MW high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) submarine power cable between the Isle of Grain in Kent, the United Kingdom; and Maasvlakte in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
The BritNed interconnector would serve as a link for the foreseeabl ...
References
External links
*
Page on 4c
{{Energy in the United Kingdom, sources
Electrical interconnectors to and from Great Britain
Electrical interconnectors to and from the Nordic grid
HVDC transmission lines
Electrical interconnectors in the North Sea
Norway–United Kingdom relations
2021 establishments in Europe