Prep begins for Scottish subsea link’s converter station construction

Enabling work has started in Peterhead for the proposed converter station for the Eastern Green Link 2 (EGL2) subsea electricity superhighway between Scotland and England.

The joint venture project between SSEN Transmission and National Grid Electricity Transmission will see around 440 kilometers of subsea HVDC cable connecting new converter stations planned for Peterhead and Yorkshire.

Enabling work in Peterhead is expected to take place until autumn.

Plans for the converter station were consented in May 2022 by Aberdeenshire Council and construction is due to begin in late 2024 and be complete in 2029.

In preparation for the construction of the new converter station, enabling works will include two new permanent access roads, along with a temporary road through the site for construction traffic, a site car park and erection of temporary site offices for use during construction, construction of a new cable sealing end compound, and removal of two existing 132 kV towers, ground investigation works and undergrounding of the existing 11 kV overhead line within the converter station land boundary.

Italian cabling giant Prysmian was selected as the exclusive preferred bidder for EGL2 and EGL1, with Hitachi Energy as the preferred technology provider for HVDC converter stations.

The EGL links are said to form part of a series of planned electricity grid reinforcements targeted at increasing the capability of the existing UK transmission network to facilitate increased flows of planned renewable generation in the North to demand centers to the South, supporting the ambitions of enabling 50 GW offshore wind generation by 2030 and achieving a net zero economy by 2050.