Eastern Green Link 3 Wins Scottish Licence for 2 GW Subsea Link
National Grid and SSEN Transmission won the Scottish marine licence for the 2 GW Eastern Green Link 3 on Nov. 11. Construction is proposed for 2029, with operation aimed for 2033.
A high-voltage subsea cable from NKT's offshore range, the contractor for Eastern Green Link 3. The photo is NKT's library image and not a picture of the EGL3 cable itself.
Image: NKT
Source · Press image from the NKT newsroom, used for news reporting.
SSEN Transmission and National Grid Electricity Transmission were granted the marine licence for the Scottish waters section of Eastern Green Link 3, a 2 GW subsea link to England, on Nov. 11, SSEN Transmission said in a release.
The licence covers installation and operation of the subsea cable in Scottish waters, including the nearshore work where the cable meets land near Peterhead in Aberdeenshire. EGL3 is a joint venture of the two companies. Offshore Energy, which reported the 2 GW rating, said the link will run between Longside in Aberdeenshire and Walpole in Norfolk. SSEN's release gives no capacity figure.
James Johnson, the joint venture's programme director at SSEN Transmission, said the licence followed several years of design work and marine surveys. SSEN said those surveys assessed the habitats and species along the proposed route, and that the team consulted offshore developers, fisheries and local communities on the cable route design.
Why the Scottish licence matters for grid capacity
The link exists to move renewable power from the north of Scotland to demand in England and to ease network constraints, according to SSEN. A marine licence for the Scottish side removes one consent from the path, but it does not add capacity by itself: Offshore Energy reports that construction is proposed to start in 2029, with the aim of full operation by 2033. For developers and large loads waiting on network capacity, the extra transfer capacity is still years away.
Eastern Green Link 3 is aimed for full operation by 2033, with construction proposed to start in 2029.
Illustration (AI-generated)
Cable, converters and cost
According to Offshore Energy, NKT holds a turnkey contract worth over €2.2 billion to design, manufacture and install a 525 kV high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cable system. The route length is around 680 kilometres, counting both onshore and offshore sections. Hitachi Energy will deliver the HVDC converter stations in Scotland and England; converters change alternating current to direct current for the long cable and back again.
How it compares with Sea Link
The licence followed the UK government's Oct. 30 consent for National Grid's 2 GW Sea Link between Suffolk and Kent, as Voltgrid reported on Oct. 31. Sea Link is about 138 km and is scheduled to be built from 2027 to 2031. EGL3 comes later, with construction proposed from 2029 and a 2 GW rating on the Offshore Energy figure, the same as Sea Link.
What is not confirmed yet
SSEN's release does not name the licence conditions, the cost of the whole project or any energisation date. The construction start in 2029, the 2033 operation target, the 2 GW rating and the €2.2 billion NKT contract come from Offshore Energy, not from the release. The sources read for this report do not say which consents remain on the English side of the route, so this report makes no claim on that point.
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