The UK Nationwide Grid and SSEN Transmission have set into movement the primary steps for the event of Japanese Inexperienced Hyperlink (EGL5), the UK’s fifth subsea electrical energy superhighway that will join Scotland and England, by launching a public session.

The companions opened a stage 1 (non-statutory) session on Could 13, set to shut on June 23 at 11:59 p.m., round a month after it was introduced that offshore marine survey operations have been set to start at EGL5, carried out by Eire-based XOCEAN.

Stage 1 session, designed to introduce early proposals and achieve public suggestions, is known as a non-statutory session which is an optionally available stage of the event consent order (DCO) course of. Stage 2 session, or statutory session, is a required stage of the DCO course of and takes place when the challenge proposals are extra outlined. It’s anticipated to happen subsequent yr.

The Nationwide Grid and SSEN Transmission are additionally holding a collection of in-person public data occasions and on-line webinars the place they share the challenge plans.

EGL5’s subsea offshore cable route would run from Scotland and make landfall on the Lincolnshire shoreline at Anderby Creek. As soon as onshore, the underground high-voltage direct present (HVDC) cables would path to a single proposed converter station positioned both to the north-east of Bilsby or to the north-west of Huttoft, inside East Lindsey.

From the converter station, the high-voltage alternating present (HVAC) underground cables would path to and join right into a proposed Lincolnshire Connection Substation-B (LCS-B) close to Bilsby, East Lindsey, that’s being proposed as a part of NGET’s separate Grimsby to Walpole challenge.

The challenge, a part of The Nice Grid Improve, would transport sufficient clear vitality from Scotland to energy as much as two million properties in components of the Midlands and South of England. 

The EGL hyperlinks kind a part of deliberate electrical energy grid reinforcements to spice up the aptitude of the present UK transmission community and facilitate elevated flows of deliberate renewable technology within the North to demand facilities to the South, supporting the ambition of enabling 50 GW of offshore wind technology by 2030 and attaining a net-zero financial system by 2050.

Development on EGL1 began this February, however the challenge was not too long ago pushed again by 16 months attributable to provide chain constraints. Development of EGL2 began in September 2024.

Joint stage 2 consultations are additionally being held for EGL3 and EGL4, from Could 13 to June 23.