Prysmian Group has received notification from SSEN Transmission, and National Grid Electricity Transmission, Great Britain’s electricity transmission network owners, that it has been selected as the exclusive preferred bidder for the Eastern Green Link 2 (EGL2) cable connection between England and Scotland.

Prysmian Group is currently continuing the contract negotiations with the aim of concluding the contract soon.

Eastern Green Link 2 is a planned high voltage direct current submarine and underground cable link of around 500 km total length between Peterhead in Scotland and Drax in the Northeast of England. With a power transmission capacity of 2 GW the connection is expected to be one of the first cable systems in the UK to utilise 525 kV technology with extruded XLPE insulation.

EGL2 forms part of a series of planned system reinforcements required to increase the capability of the existing UK transmission network and facilitate the growth in flows of renewable generation primarily in Scotland to demand centres to the South, supporting the target of enabling 50 GW offshore wind generation by 2030 and achieving a Net Zero economy by 2050.

The full scheme consists of two 2 GW capacity submarine and underground power cables from the East coast of Scotland to northeast England. National regulator Ofgem states that "At an estimated cost of £3.4 billion for the two links, the Eastern HVDC projects would be the largest electricity transmission investment project in the recent history of Great Britain."

In July 2022 Ofgem published its conditional decision on the Final needs case for the Eastern HVDC project, confirming its choice of two separate HVDC links, each rated at 2 GW.

The first of these, Eastern Green Link 2 (EGL2) will run from Peterhead, near Aberdeen, to Drax in Yorkshire. Construction is expected to start this year, with the construction phase complete in 2027.

The second, Scotland-England Green Link 1, SEGL1, will run from Torness in southeast Scotland to Hawthorn Pit substation in county Durham, northeast England. The subsea portion of the cable will be 440 km (270 mi) long. In December 2022, the project was in the ‘early development’ stage. Early enabling works are expected in 2024, with the main construction phase starting in 2025, and a target date for energisation of 2029.

Ofgem approved both schemes as part of its Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment Framework.