World’s ‘most ambitious’ subsea interconnector igniting zest for clean power superhubs: Embracing NATO-L to reinforce energy security bonds between America and Europe

While energy has always been the life force behind progress, its influence over many aspects was brought into stark relief during the energy crisis that gripped the world following the reawakened Russia-Ukraine conflict. Given the geopolitics of energy security alongside the climate change challenges, the first-ever interconnection between North America and Western Europe is anticipated to enable a new dawn to brake over energy security across the Atlantic.

Various geopolitical risks to energy security, the 2022 gas crunch in Europe, and the ensuing global energy crisis, entwined with scorching heatwaves engulfing the globe as climate change tightens its grip on energy policy, have spurred greater innovation in greening the electricity grid with subsea cables and interconnectors emerging as the go-to solution to link and interlink countries with clean power.

This trend seemingly resonates with proponents of the North Atlantic Transmission One–Link (NATO-L), which aims to deliver a 6 GW high-voltage direct current (HVDC) set of subsea cables across the Atlantic to link North America and Western Europe, forging clean energy bonds between allied nations to ensure “a secure and cost-effective source of carbon-free power.”

With a cable length of 3,500 km or 2,200 miles, the North Atlantic Transmission One-Link is said to be “the most ambitious and beautiful infrastructure project in the world,” according to proponents, who claim this development will bring green electricity to connect North America to Western Europe via Eastern Canada and the UK and Ireland to foster energy independence.

It is believed that necessity is the mother of all invention, thus, the need to balance intermittent sources of renewables, push energy security to new heights to alleviate supply concerns, and come up with improved technologies are some of the key drivers behind the development of transcontinental cables.

On a mission to design, develop, and bring to life electricity interconnection infrastructure between America and Europe, three players have joined forces to set the wheels in motion for the NATO-L project to be turned from vision into reality.

With billions of euros put into clean energy over more than 20 years, Laurent Segalen, who is one of the three founding fathers of this grand undertaking, is a franco-british clean energy investment banker and the founder of Megawatt-X, the London-based Energy Transition investment platform.

Segalen co-hosts the podcast Redefining Energy with another NATO-L founder, Gerard Reid, an Irish Investment Banker and authority on the changes in energy and mobility, who is a member of the Global Future Council on Advanced Energy Technologies at the World Economic Forum and a founding partner of Alexa Capital.

The third founder of the flagship America-Europe green energy interconnection is Simon Ludlam, a former investment banker and the founding partner of Etchea Energy, which currently provides the management team for the Irish MaresConnect interconnector project.

While the total time required to put all the pieces in place for the project to become operational is estimated to take 10-15 years, the next three years are expected to be all about shaping the project, gathering all talents, and obtaining the support of all stakeholders, including political, regulatory, technical, industrial, and financial ones.

Given the nature of the project and the location where it will be built, the proponents anticipate that NATO-L will enable the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) to forge a physical link between its two blocks, strengthening energy security amongst its members at a time when certain “hostile regimes” are using energy as a weapon.

While the project offers North America the opportunity to develop the green potential of the Northeastern corner of the American continent with hydro and wind, the UK and Europe will be able to bolster diversification and security of supply with decarbonized power in line with the continent’s transition to net zero agenda.

Even though the current energy market dynamics and the uncertainty looming over the proposed NATO-L project make the final bill calculation challenging, the costs will likely surpass $25 billion and stay below $60 billion. This project has a long way to go and will most likely face several hurdles during its development road, thus, the proponents think that the short-term capital will probably not be deployed at this stage.

However, western democracies are believed to need “green, reliable, and secure new sources of carbon-free electricity” to empower communities, drive economic growth, and mitigate climate change impacts and energy security concerns, based on the proponents assessment of the situation.

Envisioned as a green electricity superhighway fortifying the economy and energy arsenal of countries on both sides of the Atlantic, NATO-L is seen as a way to harness the rotation of the Earth around the Sun with East–West interconnectors.

Since renewable resources like wind and solar on each side of the ocean are not correlated, the proponents believe this allows the link to become a virtual 24/7 baseload carbon-free corridor, with solar in Europe powering North America’s breakfast and five hours later revering the flow to power Europe’s evening demand peak.

While introducing the project, Segalen highlighted: “Some will say it’s crazy, other are convinced that it delivers great economics, excellent environmental optimisation and establishes a joint security of supply across G7 nations.”

When asked on social media about the probability of the project being successfully brought online, Segalen said the project’s chances were 50/50, which as far as odds go is not bad at all bearing in mind the grandiose scale of the endeavor.

The next steps will entail ways to establish a consensus around the project, attract founding members, bring in the experts to assess the opportunities and challenges from an energy and infrastructure point of view, identify the key risk factors, and outline possible initial planning and milestones.

In addition, it will encompass efforts to create a comprehensive plan of tasks and resources, decide on resourcing and workstreams, start assessing the budget and the economic models for the cable, assess the budget and the economic models for the cable, optimize its integration into existing grids, narrow the possible routes and the potential landing zones, and vet potential routes and landing zones.

“The first transatlantic telegraph cables were laid over 120 years ago. Now it’s time for HVDC cables through North Atlantic Transmission One – Link to link the two continents with green power,” emphasized Ludlam.

Europe is already expanding grid connections between countries as it works to build its carbon-free power supply network. Many cross-border and hybrid interconnector projects are being pursued to enable green electricity to flow freely across the continent. The world’s largest interconnector in operation at this point, Viking Link, connecting the UK and Denmark, was officially inaugurated in April 2024.

The future belongs to those who dare to pursue their goals, thus, as ambitious and grand as the NATO-L project seems, its chances of success are bolstered by the rising calls to boost climate action and ensure the security of supply with clean energy.

This does not mean that the project will have smooth sailing to the finish line, as the backing it receives will depend on various factors, including energy policies and the political climate not only inside the countries the project covers but also the relationship between the U.S. and Europe.