In focus: Energy security in Europe – New links to strengthen the chain

Ever since the first days of the Russia-Ukraine war, energy security has been one of the top global concerns and – with gas supply issues still high on the agenda and another winter coming, accompanied by recent warnings from the Dutch intelligence and NATO on potential dangers to the offshore energy infrastructure – Europe especially has been on yellow alert.

However, while some links may have been weakened, the chain still seems to be far from breakable. Besides replacing the former supply connections, the reinforcement, both short- and long-term, is coming through new projects and partnerships in both the European and the global energy sectors.

The best examples are the physical energy links planned to be built between countries, continents, and different projects.

While there are several electricity transmission interconnectors already in operation or under construction in Europe, the UK and Germany are set to see the first to be built between their grids.

A geophysical and UXO survey is set to begin at the end of this month for an interconnector that will connect the UK and Germany for the first time, named NeuConnect, with early site works already underway in both countries.

The £2.4 billion NeuConnect project, which will comprise 725 kilometres of land and subsea cables, will allow up to 1.4 GW of electricity to flow in either direction between the two countries, enough to power up to 1.5 million homes over the life of the project.

Major construction work is scheduled to start as early as this year and the interconnector is expected to become operational in 2028.

New intercontinental subsea energy connections are on the horizon, as well.

This week, the southern hydrogen corridor (SoutH2 Corridor) – a hydrogen-ready pipeline corridor connecting North Africa to Central Europe – received support from Italian, Austrian and German ministries of energy for its development in the European Union and for its respective infrastructure projects to obtain the status of Project of Common Interest (PCI).

The 3,300-kilometre-long pipeline corridor is a part of the European Hydrogen Backbone and its development is said to guarantee the security of supply and to be crucial for creating an interconnected and diversified hydrogen backbone.

According to one of the project partners, Italian company Snam, with a hydrogen import capacity of more than 4 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) from North Africa, the corridor could deliver 40 per cent of the REPowerEU import target.

The SoutH2 Corridor is expected to be fully operational in 2030 and consists of four individual PCI project candidates: Italian H2 Backbone, promoted by Snam Rete Gas; H2 Readiness of the TAG pipeline system, promoted by Trans Austria Gasleitung; H2 Backbone WAG + Penta-West, promoted by Gas Connect Austria; and HyPipe Bavaria – The Hydrogen Hub, promoted by bayernets GmbH.

Central Europe has also been doubling down on its renewable energy capacity, with the largest floating solar plant in the region and the fourth largest in Europe inaugurated this week in Austria by German renewable energy company BayWa r.e.

The 24.5 MWp Grafenwörth floating solar plant will produce 26,700 MWh of green electricity per year and will be able to supply around 7,500 Austrian households.

Back to new links, and those in a less literal sense, as cross-country cooperation and business partnerships on new energy projects are also gaining momentum and a more firm foothold.

One such development has been announced this week in Denmark and Norway, where Northern Lights, a joint venture (JV) of energy majors Shell, Equinor and TotalEnergies, signed a contract with renewable energy company Ørsted that paves the way for the acceleration of the development of a commercial market for CCS in Europe.

Under the terms of the deal, Northern Lights will transport 430,000 tonnes of biogenic CO2 annually from the Ørsted Kalundborg Hub in Denmark to a specialized CO2 receiving terminal at Øygarden, Norway.

Biogenic CO2 refers to emissions derived from bioenergy production, resulting from the release of absorbed CO2 from biomass sources like wood or organic waste, and Ørsted was just awarded public funding from the Danish Energy Agency to develop a CO2 capture hub for the biomass power stations Asnæs and Avedøre.

The liquefied biogenic CO2 will be temporarily held in onshore tanks at Øygarden before being injected into an offshore reservoir via a pipeline. This permanent storage solution lies an impressive 2,600 meters beneath the seabed.

Northern Lights said that it would transport the liquefied CO2 by ship for permanent offshore storage below the North Sea. 

While the links between industries in the energy sector are on the increase more so than ever with the energy transition underway, one such cross-industry connection that is perhaps of special interest – the cooperation between the fossil and renewable energy projects – also saw an update this week with the Hywind Tampen floating wind project.

The 88 MW floating offshore wind farm in Norway has started delivering electricity to the Snorre oil and gas field in the Norwegian North Sea. This is the second platform being powered by the wind farm’s floating turbines, after Gullfaks A started receiving electricity from Hywind Tampen in November 2022.

Developed and built by Equinor, Hywind Tampen is currently the world’s largest floating offshore wind farm in operation and the first wind farm in the world that is supplying electricity to oil and gas platforms.

The 11-turbine floater, scheduled to be fully operational by the end of this year, is expected to meet 35 per cent of the electrical power demand on the Gullfaks and Snorre fields. This will cut CO2 emissions from the fields by about 200,000 tonnes per year, according to Equinor.