Prysmian has secured a payment of €180m to ensure capacity availability for a major cable connection project in the UK.
The payment is in relation to the Eastern Green Link 2 Limited, a joint venture between SSEN Transmission and National Grid Electricity Transmission.
The Scotland-England connection forms part of a series of planned electricity grid reinforcements targeted at increasing the capability of the existing UK transmission network to facilitate increased flows of planned renewables generation in the north to demand centres to the south, supporting the ambitions of enabling 50GW of offshore wind generation by 2030 and achieving a net zero economy by 2050.
Following Prysmian’s selection as exclusive preferred bidder in May 2023, the commitment includes the payment of €180m to ensure its continued capacity availability for the planned construction of the Eastern Green Link 2 (EGL2) cable connection during the remaining period of negotiations that are aimed at concluding the contract in a timely manner.
Eastern Green Link 2 is a high voltage direct current (HVDC) submarine and underground link utilizing around 1000km of wire along the 500km route that is planned between converter stations located at Peterhead in north-east Scotland and Drax in north England.
With a power transmission capacity of 2GW the connection is expected to be one of the first cable systems in the UK to utilise 525 kV technology with extruded XLPE insulation.
“This approach demonstrates Prysmian’s commitment to making all our resources and global expertise available to our customers, supporting the development of crucial cable connections for the energy transition”, said Prysmian Group’s executive vice president projects BU Hakan Ozmen.