First steps being taken to bring UK’s fifth subsea electricity superhighway to life

The UK National Grid and SSEN Transmission have set into motion the first steps for the development of Eastern Green Link (EGL5), the UK’s fifth subsea electricity superhighway that would connect Scotland and England, by launching a public consultation.

The partners opened a stage 1 (non-statutory) consultation on May 13, set to close on June 23 at 11:59 p.m., around a month after it was announced that offshore marine survey operations were set to begin at EGL5, carried out by Ireland-based XOCEAN.

Stage 1 consultation, designed to introduce early proposals and gain public feedback, is called a non-statutory consultation which is an optional stage of the development consent order (DCO) process. Stage 2 consultation, or statutory consultation, is a required stage of the DCO process and takes place when the project proposals are more defined. It is expected to take place next year.

The National Grid and SSEN Transmission are also holding a series of in-person public information events and online webinars where they share the project plans.

EGL5’s subsea offshore cable route would run from Scotland and make landfall on the Lincolnshire coastline at Anderby Creek. Once onshore, the underground high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cables would route to a single proposed converter station located either to the north-east of Bilsby or to the north-west of Huttoft, within East Lindsey.

From the converter station, the high-voltage alternating current (HVAC) underground cables would route to and connect into a proposed Lincolnshire Connection Substation-B (LCS-B) near Bilsby, East Lindsey, that is being proposed as part of NGET’s separate Grimsby to Walpole project.

The project, part of The Great Grid Upgrade, would transport enough clean energy from Scotland to power up to two million homes in parts of the Midlands and South of England. 

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

Construction on EGL1 started this February, but the project was recently pushed back by 16 months due to supply chain constraints. Construction of EGL2 started in September 2024.

Joint stage 2 consultations are also being held for EGL3 and EGL4, from May 13 to June 23.