Eastern Green Link 1 (EGL1), a proposed 2 GW HVDC multi directional subsea cable project worth $25.2 billion, to be built between the Torness area in East Lothian, Scotland and Hawthorn Pit in County Durham, England is the first to proceed under Ofgem’s Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment (ASTI) framework.
The project, developed by SP Energy Networks and National Grid Electricity Transmission, has received a provisional $2.5 billion fund to deliver a subsea energy superhighway to connect up to 2 million homes to clean energy.
The vast majority of the 196 km cable will be under the North Sea, with the remaining 20 km of cables underground linking the cable to substations and converter stations in Torness, East Lothian and Hawthorn Pit, County Durham.
ASTI is designed to fasten the delivery of strategic energy projects to feed in more electricity generated by offshore wind to British consumers. It accelerates the project funding process by up to two years, targeting projects crucial to meet the Government’s target of 50 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030, and replaces the former approval framework.
EGL1 will provide consumers access to homegrown wind energy. It will benefit consumers by reducing compensation paid to generators asked to shut production, during high wind, due to lack of grid capacity.
Ofgem examined the costs proposed by developers and identified $54.11 million to be cut from indirect costs, thereby reducing costs for consumers without impacting project delivery or quality. The project is also dependent on receiving future planning permission from the Planning Inspectorate.
