The 765km long land and subsea cable is expected to power up to 2.5 million households in UK and bring more than £500m of cumulative savings for British customers over the next decade while offsetting 600,000 tonnes of carbon emissions in its first year alone
UK’s National Grid formally inaugurates the £1.8bn Viking Link HVDC electricity link. (Credit: National Grid)
National Grid has formally inaugurated the 1.4GW Viking Link interconnector project which will serve as a continuous high voltage direct current (HVDC) electricity link between the UK and Denmark.
The £1.8bn project has linked the British and Danish transmission systems for the first time. Under the project, a connection has been established between the Bicker Fen substation in Lincolnshire, England to the Revsing substation in southern Jutland, Denmark.
Viking Link is a joint venture (JV) between National Grid and Energinet, a Danish system operator.
The interconnector project is National Grid’s sixth and the ninth for the UK.
According to National Grid, the Viking Link interconnector project is the world’s longest land and subsea interconnector.
The 765km long land and subsea cable is expected to power up to 2.5 million households in the UK. It is also claimed to bring more than £500m of cumulative savings for UK customers over the next decade.
Besides, the Viking Link project is said to offset 600,000 tonnes of carbon emissions in its first year alone.
The HVDC electricity link, which started initial operations in December 2023, has facilitated the transportation of 1,733GWh of power between the UK and Denmark.
National Grid group CEO John Pettigrew said: “In an ever-changing global energy market, the value that connections like Viking Link can provide to national energy security cannot be understated.
“Over its lifespan, this record-breaking connection will deliver over five billion pounds in efficiencies for UK consumers, allow us to trade hundreds of gigawatts in surplus power and provide an indispensable tool in guaranteeing the continued reliability of our energy system.
The Viking Link project commenced construction in 2019, with Prysmian Group responsible for manufacturing and laying the HVDC offshore cable. In July 2023, National Grid completed the cable works on the Viking Link interconnector project.