Increasing interconnection: solving the energy trilemma?

The amount of interconnection to the UK is growing, with Ireland’s power transmission operator EirGrid announcing last week that it would submit a planning proposal for a £250 million 'North-South' electricity interconnector with Northern Ireland.

Deputy director of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) David Capper told a London conference in February, the government has a “clear policy” of “at least 5 GW of extra interconnection”, meaning greater interconnection is high on the government’s agenda. But will greater interconnection be a viable way to address the ever increasing threat of the energy trilemma?

Interconnection in the UK has been around for decades, with the first project, Interconnexion France-Angleterre, developed in the mid-1980s. The UK now boasts 4 GW of electricity interconnection through four interconnectors to European transmission systems, but the government is aims to source a minimum of 10 per cent of the country’s electricity from the technology. Additionally, with natural gas from the North Sea in rapid decline, the UK is importing more and more from abroad, three quarters of which arrives via pipelines from Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Sharing energy in this way, the government says, will not only improve energy security, but also cut energy bills for consumers and decrease carbon emissions.

Energy and Utilities Alliance chief executive Mike Foster tells Utility Week the theory is that interconnectors, which can be a “cost-effective” way to increase capacity, will also “help give a more stable price to the market”. He says: “Stability is the key to so many decisions in UK business, but what it also shows, and this will be a theme that will grow in intensity in the months to come.”

The government claims to support an “appropriate increase in interconnection capacity” through projects that “efficiently deliver” on its objectives. So what stage has it reached in its quest for greater interconnection?

Here is the story so far…

North-South

Irish TSO EirGrid has submitted a planning proposal for a £250 million electricity interconnector across the Irish border and a 10-week public consultation process started yesterday.

EirGrid will submit an application for the southern half of the interconnector. The northern half will be tended to by the TSO for Northern Ireland, SONI.

The interconnector project will take 3 years and was planned for completion by 2017, but has since suffered setbacks.

It will link the existing electricity transmission networks of Northern Ireland and Ireland between Turleenan, County Tyrone and Woodland, near Batterstown, County Meath.

Nemo Link

In February, National Grid signed a deal with Belgian transmission system operator Elia to move ahead with the Nemo Link, the first electricity interconnector to be developed under Ofgem’s cap and floor regime, which is due to go into commercial operation in 2019.

When the project is complete, the interconnector will provide 1 GW of capacity. The link will incorporate a combination of undersea and underground cables to run 140 kilometres between Richborough on the Kent coast and Herdersbrug, near Zeebrugge.

National Grid is in the process of developing plans for the connection of the Richborough substation to the existing transmission system, a project called the Richborough Connection.

Viking Link

National Grid and Danish TSO Energinet are working together to develop an interconnector between the UK and Denmark, called Viking Link. The project is currently in the feasibility stage.

In November last year, the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority granted a licence for the project, which is due to reach first power by the end of 2020.

Ice Link

National Grid is working with Icelandic TSO Landsvirkjun, to develop an interconnector between the UK and Iceland, a project called Ice Link.

The two TSOs are investigating capacity in the range of 800 MW to 1.2 GW for the interconnector which would be approximately 1,000 kilometres in offshore cable length.

Iceland generates all of its energy from renewable sources such as water, geothermal energy and wind power. Landsvirkjun is owned by the Icelandic state and generates and supplies two thirds of the electricity in Iceland.

NSN

The 1.4 GW NSN interconnector between the UK and Norway, currently in construction phase, is owned and will be operated by National Grid and Statnett, the Norwegian TSO.

It will be approximately 780 kilometres in length upon completion, making it the longest subsea interconnector in the world, and will run between Blyth, Northumberland to a converter station and electricity substation in Kvilldal, Norway.

Interconnexion France-Angleterre

Interconnexion France-Angleterre (IFA) is a 2 GW high voltage direct current electrical interconnector between the transmission systems in the UK and France.

The interconnector is approximately 70 kilometres in length, with 45 kilometres of subsea cable. It is jointly owned and operated by National Grid and Réseau de Transport d’Electricité (RTE), the French transmission system operator.

National Grid and RTE are developing a second 1 GW interconnector between the two countries, commonly referred to as the IFA2 project. The submarine route has been surveyed and is around 208 kilometres long, meaning altogether the onshore and offshore cable route will be nearly 240 kilometres long.

BritNed

BritNed is a 1 GW high voltage direct current link between the UK and Dutch transmission systems.

It is owned and operated by National Grid and Dutch TSO TenneT, funded and operated on a commercial basis, and is independent of their regulated businesses.

The interconnector is approximately 260 kilometres long and runs beneath the North Sea between the Isle of Grain in Kent and Maasvlakte in the Netherlands.

Moyle

The Moyle interconnector, owned and managed by Mutual Energy, is a 500 MW submarine interconnection linking the electricity systems of Northern Ireland and Scotland.

When it went into commercial operation in early 2002, it ended the isolation of Northern Ireland from the much larger electricity systems of Great Britain and the European mainland.

East-West

Jointly owned and operated by National Grid and EirGrid, the East-West interconnector runs between Deeside in north Wales and County Meath in Ireland and has a capacity of 500 MW.

Construction of the 260 kilometre interconnector commenced in July 2010 and is now complete.

UK-Belgium (IUK)

IUK runs between Bacton in Norfolk and Zeebrugge in Belgium, connecting Britain to the mainland Europe gas network. This pipeline has an import capacity of 25.5 billion cubic metres per year and is bi-directional, with the direction of flow depending on supply and demand and relative prices.

UK-Netherlands pipeline (BBL)

This pipeline runs from Balgzand in the Netherlands to Bacton in Norfolk and has an import capacity of 14.2 billion cubic metres per year.

The Vesterled pipeline link

This pipeline connects St Fergus in Scotland to a number of Norweigan gasfields and has a capacity of 14.2 billion cubic metres per year.

The Langeled pipeline

At the time of its commissioning in 2006 this pipeline, which runs from Nyhamna in Norway to Easington in Yorkshire, became the longest underwater gas pipeline in the world at 1,200 kilometres. It has a capacity of 26.3 billion cubic metres per year.

Moffat-Republic of Ireland

This pipeline links Moffat in Scotland with Gormanston and Loughshinney in the Republic of Ireland.