The contract for the 190km superhighway will cost £1.8bn. It is designed to transport renewable energy from Scotland up to the north of England.
National Grid and Scottish Power will begin construction of a “transformative”, £2.5bn, high-voltage electricity line along the East Coast of the UK from East Lothian County Durham in 2025.
The Eastern Green Link 1 project (EGL1) is Britain’s biggest grid upgrade in decades. It has been designed to transport enough clean electricity for the equivalent of two million homes.
The UK needs to update its power grid to handle twice as much electricity by 2040 as part of its effort to cut fossil fuel and gas usage.
Last month, it was revealed that Britain will need more than 100kms of electric cable every day by 2040 to achieve its climate goals.
The International Energy Agency forecasts that the UK will require 600,000km of new or upgraded electric lines by the end the next decade in order to meet climate targets. This is despite a worldwide race to secure supplies for high-voltage cabling and electrical infrastructure components.
Prysmian Group is an international cable manufacturer that has been awarded the contract for nearly 400kms of power cable as part of the EGL1 project. GE Vernova & Mytilineos have been awarded the contract to supply two HVDC Converter Stations, one at either end of cable.
National Grid estimates that the upgrades will cost tens or even hundreds of billions pounds. National Grid, a FTSE 100 company, has warned that there will be four times as many undersea cables and five times as much underground line construction by the end the decade compared to the last 30 years.
The upgrade of Britain’s grid is also expected to be a major battleground during the general election. The next government must balance local opposition against new grid infrastructure in rural areas across the UK with the economic and climate benefits.
National Grid’s research has estimated that 400,000 jobs will be created in Britain by 2050 as a result of the work required to rewire the grid. This includes about 150,000 jobs expected in Scotland and northern England.
Peter Roper, project director of EGL1, stated that the super-cable will be a “transformative project for the UK. It will enhance security of supply, and help to connect and transmit green power for customers.”
He said: “These contracts are important milestones as we continue to build the network infrastructure that will help the UK achieve its net zero energy security and net zero ambitions.”