Ofgem approves major undersea energy link that will come ashore in North Wales

Owen Hughes
·3-min read
-Credit: (Image: Ian Cooper/North Wales Live)
-Credit: (Image: Ian Cooper/North Wales Live)


Ofgem has today approved five major new undersea energy links - including one that will come ashore in North Wales. With Great Britain expected to be a net exporter of energy by 2030 the greenlit projects will capitalise on the growing amount of homegrown wind power by providing additional channels for exporting in times of energy surplus - and importing during times of more limited domestic supply.

It includes Mares Connect, a 190km subsea cable between Bodelwyddan and the Republic of Ireland, which will deliver 750MW of additional electricity capacity. This will consist of a converter station sited near the existing Bodelwyddan substation.

There will be underground cabling, which will be routed within the local road network and agricultural land, linking the station with an unconfirmed coastal site where the cable comes onshore. Construction of the Mares Connect Interconnector is expected to lead to significant capital investment in Wales.

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While Ofgem have given their approval planning go-ahead will still be required.

Ofgem said they expect GB electricity prices to fall significantly as the number of domestic windfarms increase. But added: "However, as we will be exporting electricity in the future, this means that the wholesale price of electricity in GB will be slightly higher than otherwise would have been the case without these projects. The cost to consumers of all five projects will be between £2 to £5 a year on individual consumer electricity bills over the years 2030 to 2055."

Akshay Kaul, Director General for Infrastructure at Ofgem, said: “We’ve carefully assessed all the proposed projects and only approved those ones which deliver for consumers in terms of value, viability and energy security.

“As we shift to a clean power system more reliant on intermittent wind and solar energy, these new connections will help harness the vast potential of the North Sea and play a key role in making our energy supply cheaper and less reliant on volatile foreign gas markets and associated price spikes."

He added: “With Britain expected to become a net energy exporter in the 2030s, these connections will equip us with world leading technology to export more of our surplus clean power overseas. They will also provide greater access to energy imports, which together with domestic low carbon energy sources such as nuclear and biomass, will provide vital back-up energy sources when renewable generation is more limited here.”

Full list of links

Interconnectors:

  • Tarchon Energy Interconnector this 610km subsea cable between East Anglia and Niederlangen, Germany would deliver upto 1.4GW of electricity capacity.

  • Mares Connect this 190km subsea cable between Bodelwyddan, North Wales, to the Republic of Ireland, which will deliver 0.75GW of additional electricity capacity

  • LirIC this approximately 142km subsea electricity interconnector between Kilroot in Northern Ireland to Hunterston in Ayrshire, Scotland will deliver 0.7GW of additional electricity capacity

OHA (Offshore Hybrid Assets)

  • LionLink this OHA will connect Dutch offshore windfarms to the GB grid with an onshore landing point in Suffolk and providing upto 1.8GW of clean electricity to each country

  • Nautilus, this OHA will connect Belgium offshore windfarms to the GB grid, coming ashore at the Isle of Grain in Kent, and providing upto 1.4GW of offshore wind to each country through subsea electricity cables.

The new projects are all expected to be complete and operational by the end of 2032.

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