All main approvals in place for €2.8 billion UK-Germany link

NeuConnect, the first-ever energy link between the UK and Germany, has been granted all key regulatory approvals following the second partial approval for the construction and operation of the converter station on the German side.

The Oldenburg State Trade Inspection Office (GAA Oldenburg) has granted the second partial approval for the construction and operation of the converter plant in Fedderwarden, Wilhelmshaven. 

NeuConnect Germany received its first partial approval in late summer 2021 which included the preparatory construction work on the converter site, which had already been largely completed.

This means that the €2.8 billion infrastructure project has achieved all main approvals as planned and is scheduled to go into operation in 2028.

“The second partial approval for the construction and operation of the converter station on the German side is the last essential approval element in the implementation of the privately financed NeuConnect project as a whole,” said Torsten Garmatz, Deputy Managing Director of NeuConnect Germany.

“Within a short period of just three years, we received the main project-relevant approvals from the responsible authorities. This brings us a decisive step closer to the planned commissioning of the electricity connection in 2028. Our goal is to make an important contribution to supplying Germany and Great Britain with climate-neutral energy.”

NeuConnect runs from the Fedderwarden substation in Wilhelmshaven to the Isle of Grain substation in Kent, near London. It can transport up to 1.4 GW of electricity using two HVDC cables, planned as a sea pipeline in the North Sea and as an underground pipeline on the German land side. 

Led by global investors Meridiam, Allianz Capital Partners, Kansai Electric Power and TEPCO, NeuConnect will become one of the world’s largest interconnectors with 725 kilometers of land and subsea cables connecting two of Europe’s largest energy markets for the first time.

The project began major construction in the UK this summer. It was reported at the beginning of November that the first phase of the construction had been completed.