North Sea Link

The North Sea Link is a 1,400 MW high-voltage direct current submarine power cable between Norway and the United Kingdom.[1]

Not to be confused with Scotland-Norway interconnector.
North Sea Link
Location of HVDC Norway–UK
Location
CountryNorway, United Kingdom
General directionnortheast–southwest
FromKvilldal, Norway
Passes throughNorth Sea
ToBlyth, England
Ownership information
PartnersStatnett
National Grid plc
Construction information
Manufacturer of conductor/cablePrysmian (offshore section)
Nexans (onshore section)
Cable layerC/S Giulio Verne
C/S Nexans Skagerrak
Manufacturer of substationsABB
Installer of substationsABB
Commissioned1 October 2021
Technical information
Typesubmarine cable
Type of currentHVDC
Total length720 km (450 mi)
Power rating1,400 MW
DC voltage±515 kV
No. of poles2 (bipole)
No. of circuits2

At 720 km (450 mi) it was the longest subsea interconnector in the world when it became operational on 1 October 2021.

Route
Map of cable route

The cable runs from Kvilldal, Suldal, in Norway, to Cambois near Blyth in England.[2] 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 730 kilometres (390 nautical miles) long,[2] and has a capacity of 1,400 MW.[3] The estimated cost of the project was €2 billion, and it became operational in 2021, as planned.[3][4]

Project participants

It is a joint project of the transmission system operators Statnett and National Grid.

The offshore cable was supplied by Prysmian and manufactured at the Arco Felice factory in Naples, Italy. It was installed by the cable-laying vessel Giulio Verne.[2] Cable for the fjord, tunnel and lake sections, and the onshore connection in Norway, was supplied by Nexans and manufactured at Nexans' plant in Halden, Norway. It was laid by using the Capjet trenching system and the cable-laying vessel Skagerrak.[2] The HVDC converter stations were built and installed by the ABB Group.[2]

Project history

The project was first proposed in 2003, when Statnett and National Grid planned a 1,200 MW interconnector between Suldal in Norway and Easington, County Durham, in the United Kingdom. This project was suspended.[5][6]

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.[7]

In 2010, there was speculation that the interconnection may also connect the North Sea wind farms as well as offshore oil and gas platforms, becoming the backbone of the proposed North Sea Offshore Grid.[5][8] In 2014, National Grid quoted various groups in favour of more interconnections.[9]

The route survey of the offshore section was conducted by MMT in 2012.[10][11]

In March 2015, Statnett and National Grid announced a decision to start the construction phase,[3][12][13] a month after Nemo link, a similar connection between the United Kingdom and Belgium, was announced.[14] Along with Viking Link from Denmark, they would increase the UK's electricity interconnection level (transmission capacity relative to production capacity) from the 6% it was in 2014.[15]

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.[16] The cable crossed the 700-metre-deep (2,300 ft) Norwegian trench. A 2.3-kilometre (1+7⁄16-mile) tunnel was drilled from the fjord through the mountain to the lake Suldalsvatnet, and the cable was floated across the lake to the Kvilldal connection point.[17] As of January 2021, the converter station in Suldal had been connected to the grid.[18]

Operation

On 8 June 2021, it was announced that construction had been completed,[19] and after a period of testing the interconnector became operational on 1 October 2021. Initially the link operated at a maximum of 700 MW, half its capacity, and then increased to a gigawatt. A flaw in the English converter temporarily restricted power until the full 1,400 MW could be achieved.[20] The interconnector was switched from monopole to bipole operation in January 2022.[21] 1,300 MW was achieved in April 2023,[22] and full 1,400 MW operated by June 2023. While the main direction is from Norway to England, the cable is only fully utilized occasionally.[23]

Economic effect
HVDC connections around Europe
Red=in operation
Green=decided/under construction
Blue=planned

After being fully operational, the North Sea Link gives the UK access to the south Norway bidding area (NO2) of Nord Pool Spot[24] via the cable's own auction function.[25] It has an annual transmission capacity of 12.3 TWh.[26] According to analysis by the United Kingdom market regulator Ofgem, in the base case scenario the cable would contribute around £490 million to the welfare of the United Kingdom and around £330 million 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 £3.5 billion under the base case scenario. This could reduce the average domestic consumer bill in the United Kingdom by around £2 per year.[27]

According to Auke Lont, CEO of Statnett, Norway can use the interconnector to import electricity at times of peak supply in the United Kingdom, allowing a temporary reduction in hydroelectric output in Norway and a corresponding increase at peak Norwegian demand times.[28][29] When England has negative pricing, Norway imports near the maximum 1.4 GW.[25]

In 2014, the Norwegian energy service provider Markedskraft analysed the impact of two interconnectors under construction from Norway: the North Sea Link and NorGer, 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 10 TWh, 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 25 NOK/MWh[26] (ca. 2.6 €/MWh). A 2016 study expects the two cables to increase price in South Norway by 2 øre/kWh, less than other factors.[30][31] 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 predicted more hours with imports of zero price electricity, as the rest of Europe gets more solar and wind power,[32] and this happens sometimes,[33] allowing South Norway to act as a "battery" and transit area between shifting high and low price areas in Europe.[29] June 2023 was the first time the cable "bought" power in Norway at negative prices.[34]

See also

References
  1. Hook, Leslie (15 June 2021). "UK and Norway complete world's longest subsea electricity cable". Financial Times. Retrieved 2021-06-15.
  2. Lee, Andrew (2015-07-14). "ABB, Prysmian and Nexans share UK-Norway link bounty". ReCharge. Retrieved 2015-07-14.
  3. National Grid. "The world's longest interconnector gets underway". Archived from the original on 2015-03-28. Retrieved 2015-03-26.
  4. "Cable to the UK". Statnett. 2014-10-17. Archived from the original on 2014-10-25. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
  5. Bradbury, John (2009-10-06). "UK Norway "supergrid" agreement". Offshore247.com. Offshore Media Group AS. Retrieved 2010-11-14.
  6. "National Grid plans UK-Norway interconnector". Power Engineering International. PennWell Corporation. 2009-10-07. Archived from the original on January 31, 2013. Retrieved 2010-11-14.
  7. "Will explore HVDC connection between Norway and Great Britain" (Press release). Statnett. 2009-10-06. Archived from the original on 2010-09-04. Retrieved 2010-11-14.
  8. Gibbs, Walter (2010-08-17). "Norway hydro can aid Europe move to renewables-IEA". Fox Business. FOX News Network. Retrieved 2010-11-14.
  9. Getting more connected, pp. 3–4. National Grid, 2014.
  10. "MMT to Survey UK-Norway HVDC Cable Route". Offshore WIND. 2012-03-30. Retrieved 2014-11-20.
  11. Pagnamenta, Robin (2009-10-07). "North Sea cable could bring Norway's energy to UK". The Sunday Times. Times Newspapers Ltd. Retrieved 2010-11-14.
  12. "Norge og Storbritannia nær avgjørelse om verdens lengste sjøkabel" [Norway and Great Britain are close to the decision on the world's longest submarine cable]. Teknisk Ukeblad (in Norwegian). 2015-01-05. Retrieved 2015-07-14.
  13. "UK, Norway roll with 1.4GW link". reNEWS. 2015-03-23. Archived from the original on 2015-07-15. Retrieved 2015-07-14.
  14. "National Grid rolls with Nemo link". reNEWS. 2015-02-27. Archived from the original on 2015-07-15. Retrieved 2015-07-14.
  15. COM/2015/082 final: "Achieving the 10% electricity interconnection target" Text PDF pp. 2–5. European Commission, 25 February 2015. Archive Mirror
  16. "What's happening in your area?". North Sea Link. North Sea Link. p. Construction Update: February 2020. Retrieved 2020-03-08.
  17. Excell, Jon (21 October 2019). "Power sharing: building the world's longest subsea electricity interconnector". The Engineer. Archived from the original on 15 January 2021.
  18. "NSL's first converter station connected to Norwegian Electricity system". Submarine Cable Consulting & Intelligence Services (4C Offshore).
  19. Thicknesse, Edward (2021-06-15). "Construction of North Sea Link cable completed ahead of October power-up". City A.M. London. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
  20. "National Grid powers up world's longest subsea interconnector between the UK and Norway". 2021-10-01. Retrieved 2021-10-01.
  21. "Unavailability of electricity facilities : Transmission". Nordpool REMIT UMM. Nord Pool (site) Statnett (message). 2021-01-05. Archived from the original on 2021-01-07. Retrieved 2021-01-07.
  22. Lingjærde, Magnus (21 April 2023). "Statnetts press mot britene har fungert - Englandskabelen åpnes for større strømeksport". Europower (in Norwegian).
  23. "Fortsatt billigst i Europa: Dette har ikke skjedd på 2,5 år". Europower | Siste nyheter fra fornybarbransjen (in Norwegian). 21 July 2023.
  24. "Southern Norway towards new HVDC-connections". nordpoolspot.com. Archived from the original on 2016-08-19. Retrieved 2016-08-02.
  25. "Gratis strøm i fem timer lørdag – og rekordimport fra England". Europower | Siste nyheter fra fornybarbransjen (in Norwegian). 14 July 2023.
  26. Lie, Øyvind (2014-08-20). "Norges kraftoverskudd forsvinner til England" [Norway's power surplus disappears to England]. Teknisk Ukeblad (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2016-08-05.
  27. "Cap and floor regime: Initial Project Assessment for the NSN interconnector to Norway" (PDF). Ofgem. 17 December 2014. p. 4. Retrieved 2016-08-07.
  28. Kavanagh, Michael (2015-03-26). "UK draws on Norwegian green power with €2bn cable". Financial Times. Retrieved 2016-08-07.
  29. "Årets billigste hverdag i Sør-Norge mandag – halve landet får gratis strøm i seks timer". Europower | Siste nyheter fra fornybarbransjen (in Norwegian). 16 July 2023. Norway has net import of 16 GWh. Thus producers can save water.
  30. "Dette er årsakene til at strømmen blir dyrere" [These are the reasons why electricity is becoming more expensive "]. Teknisk Ukeblad. 27 December 2016. Retrieved 2016-12-27.
  31. Bartnes Gudmund (2016-12-22). "Kraftmarkedsanalyse mot 2030" [Power market analysis towards 2030] (PDF). www.nve.no. Retrieved 2020-12-11.
  32. "Prisvirkning av NordLink og NSL" [Price impact of NordLink and NSL] (PDF). www.statnett.no (in Norwegian). Statnett. March 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 March 2022.
  33. Lingjærde, Magnus (21 April 2023). "Ny strømpris-kollaps – men denne gangen blir det billigere også i Norge". Europower (in Norwegian).
  34. "For første gang søndag: Betaler for å levere strøm til England". Europower (in Norwegian). 10 June 2023.
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