UK, Germany to Build New Power Cable to Share Offshore Wind

(Bloomberg) -- Germany and the United Kingdom are planning a new power cable outside Scotland that would also allow for the transfer of offshore wind power, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said during a visit to London.

The two countries are so far cooperating on two other cross-border projects — the NeuConnect Interconnector between Isle of Grain and Wilhelmshaven, where work started this year, and operations are scheduled for 2028, and Tarchon Energy between Niederlangen in Lower Saxony and Essex in East Anglia, for which 2030 is the commissioning date.

However, those power lines won’t connect wind farms like so-called multi-purpose interconnectors that allow neighboring coastal countries to tap these renewable assets and share electricity safely at all times. The cables allow flexibility in national and regional power systems by expanding power sources and allowing it to flow to areas of higher price and demand. 

The UK aims to have 18 gigawatts of interconnectors by 2030, more than double its current capacity, as it tries to decarbonize its power system.

The underwater cable connection would run about 850 kilometers (528 miles) from northern Germany through the North Sea and incorporate Scottish wind farms, Habeck’s ministry added in a statement Friday. It gave no other details.

“We welcome collaboration with the German government to deliver more subsea cables, as outlined by today’s signing of the UK-German energy & climate partnership,” a spokesperson for the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said. “These vital interconnector projects will help secure safe, affordable and clean energy for consumers in both nations for the long term and bolster energy security.”

The announcement came as officials from both sides agreed to deepen energy cooperation in the North Sea, which has a potential to become Europe’s powerhouse with as much as 300 gigawatts of offshore wind generation by mid-century.

(Updates with UK government spokesperson’s comment in sixth paragraph.)

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