Officials point the finger at ‘volatile international gas markets’ to deflect attention from the massive cost of sending electricity from the North Sea via Scotland to the English power grid. In recent weeks gas has supplied the UK with many times more electricity than wind power, due to unfavourable low-wind weather conditions under major atmospheric high pressure systems that can happen at any time.
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The UK’s energy regulator Ofgem on Friday awarded a $2.5 billion (£2 billion) funding package for a subsea and underground cable between Scotland and northern England that would give North Sea wind farms additional access to the grid, reports OilPrice.com.
Eastern Green Link 1 (EGL1) will be a high voltage electricity superhighway able to transport 2 gigawatts (GW) of UK wind-generated electricity between Torness, East Lothian and Hawthorn Pit, County Durham.
Most of the 196 km (122 miles) cable will be under the North Sea, with the remaining cables underground linking the cable to substations and converter stations in Scotland and England.
“The project will reduce Great Britain’s reliance on volatile international gas markets by further harnessing the power of homegrown North Sea wind,” the regulator said in a statement.
The new project is expected to deliver annual saving of over $1.1 billion (£870 million) by reducing the need to compensate wind generators due to lack of grid capacity.
Currently, the system operator has to often compensate UK power generating companies when they are asked to turn off production during times of high wind due to lack of grid capacity.
Eastern Green Link 1 is the second of 26 critical energy projects, worth an estimated $25.3 billion (£20 billion), to successfully complete Ofgem’s new fast track Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment (ASTI) framework, the regulator said.
Full report here.
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Image: Beatrice wind farm, off northern Scotland [credit: power-technology.com]
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November 16, 2024 at 04:39AM
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