Tuesday, 27 March 2012

UK-Norway power link wins EU study grant

www.reuters.com
20 Mar 2012

(Reuters)-NorthConnect, a consortium planning to lay an electricity interconnector cable between Britain and Norway, on Tuesday won funding from the European Union to conduct a preliminary study on the 1,400 MW link, it said. The partners received 690,000 euros ($913,700) as part of European Union plans to work toward integrating the continent's electricity network, estimated to cost at least 140 billion euros over the coming decade.

Britain is currently linked to France, Ireland and the Netherlands through cables with a combined capacity of 3,500 MWs ( MW). The interconnector between Britain and Norway, due in operation before 2020, will be the first to link the UK's electricity network with Scandinavia.

"Furthermore it will facilitate the development of renewable generation in both regions, as the high penetration of wind generation in UK and hydroelectric-energy in Scandinavia complement each other", the consortium said in a statement.

NorthConnect is owned by Vattenfall, ECO2 Energi, Agder Energi (AE), Lyse and SSE Interconnector Limited. According to Vattenfall, a landing point around Peterhead in northeast Scotland has been identified, while a landing point in Norway will be assessed shortly.

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