Viking Link, said to be the world’s longest land and undersea power interconnection line, has begun operation, transporting electricity between the UK and Denmark.
The $2.15bn (£1.7bn) link stretches 475 miles between the UK and Denmark and has a capacity of 1.4GW. The link will connect the Bikkerfen substation in Lincolnshire, UK, and the Revsing substation in southern Jutland, Denmark.
The project is a joint venture between National Grid and Danish system operator Energynet and will have the capacity to transport enough electricity for up to 2.5 million UK homes, delivering a cumulative total of 500 million yen to UK consumers over the next 12 months. sterling ($632 million) in savings. 10 years thanks to cheap electricity imported from Denmark.
Construction of National Grid’s sixth interconnector, Viking Link, began in 2019 and has taken more than four million man-hours to get to this point.
Lead contractor Siemens Energy built the substation in the UK and Energynet built the substation in Denmark. Siemens Energy designed, installed and commissioned the electrical assets on both sides.
The HVDC offshore cable was manufactured and installed by Prysmian Group. The cable was laid on the ocean floor using a custom-built ship Leonardo da Vinci and then buried using an Asso trencher.
The HVDC onshore cable manufactured by Prysmian Group was installed by Balfour Beatty, the offshore part was manufactured and installed by Prysmian Group in the UK and the onshore part in Denmark was manufactured by NKT and installed by Monck.
Initially, Viking Link will operate with a capacity of 800MW, which will then increase to 1.4GW over time. National Grid and Energinet plan to work together to bring the assets to full capacity over the next year.
“As we deploy more wind power to meet climate change and energy security goals, connectivity with neighboring countries will play a key role in increasing security of supply and lowering prices for consumers. It will span more land and sea than any existing link, connecting the UK with clean, green Danish energy, improving security of supply and delivering significant carbon and carbon savings to UK consumers. It brings cost savings,” said Katie Jackson, National Grid’s interconnector operations manager. National Grid Ventures.