UK company National Grid Ventures and Dutch/German transmission system operator TenneT are working together to explore the feasibility of connecting Dutch and UK wind farms to the energy systems of both countries via subsea interconnectors.
The development would be the first of its kind for the UK and the Netherlands in the North Sea, the partners said.
The UK and the Netherlands have both established ambitious targets to expand offshore wind capacity in the North Sea, with the UK government recently announcing it was targeting 40GW by 2030, while the Dutch have targeted 11.5GW by 2030 and 20-40GW by 2050.
“Delivering such large-scale offshore wind growth efficiently will require significant amounts of new infrastructure and close cooperation between countries around the North Sea,” they said.
Under the terms of the cooperation agreement, TenneT and National Grid Ventures will explore the development of a multi-purpose interconnector to simultaneously connect up to 4GW of UK and Dutch offshore wind between the two countries electricity systems, providing an additional 2GW of interconnection capacity between the countries.
By connecting into both systems, the multi-purpose interconnector will enable spare transmission capacity to be used to trade electricity between the countries, thereby increasing the potential utilisation of offshore infrastructure, they said.
Reducing the amount of infrastructure needed will also mitigate the environmental impact on coastal communities, compared to the current approach in which interconnectors and wind farms are developed and connected separately, the partners added.
The two companies aim to have a pathfinder project defined by the end of 2021 with a view to delivering an operational asset by 2029.
TenneT chief executive Manon van Beek said: “TenneT has been at the forefront of developing multi-purpose interconnection to enable the large-scale growth of offshore wind in the North Sea.
“This agreement allows us to work with National Grid in the North Sea to develop innovative infrastructure that uses every spare electron of offshore wind generation to reach our decarbonisation targets.”
National Grid Ventures managing director Jon Butterworth said: “The UK’s binding commitment to net zero by 2050 and the European Green Deal have set clear goals for a low-carbon future for generations to come.
“Multi-Purpose Interconnectors have the potential to act as a key enabler for new offshore wind projects and we’re delighted to be partnering once again with TenneT to deliver an innovative vision to help realise the full green energy potential of the North Sea.”
RenewableUK director of future electricity systems Barnaby Wharton said: “Innovative projects like this will help us to maximise the use of the massive amount of power we’re generating from offshore wind, which is set to be the dominant technology in our energy system by the end of this decade.
“Building more interconnectors will drive down costs for consumers even further by allowing more clean electricity to flow between countries – it’s another step towards the era of cheap, plentiful power which renewables can provide.
“Projects combining interconnections and offshore wind will help reduce the amount of electricity works onshore, meaning that any impact on coastal communities is kept to a minimum.
“As offshore wind developers are determined to work closely with local communities and to be good neighbours, this is an important consideration for our sector.”