SSE Drops Norway-U.K. Grid Project

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) - One of the key partners behind a project to link the electricity grids of Norway and the U.K. has pulled out complaining of regulatory issues.

U.K. utility, SSE plc (Perth, Scotland), has withdrawn from the NorthConnect project which is aiming to construct a 1,400-megawatt (MW) subsea power transmission link, which will connect Peterhead, Scotland, to Sima or Samnanger in Norway. The cable would run approximately 570 kilometers (km) and have to traverse a large number of existing pipelines and cables. NorthConnect forms part of a wider plan for the North Sea grid, which will see greater European transmission between marine and offshore wind projects. The North Sea grid is expected to help secure energy supplies across the region, boost the sharing of renewables and eventually lead to level energy prices across Europe.

The other four partners in the NorthConnect project - Vattenfall (Stockholm, Sweden), E-CO Energi (Oslo, Norway), Agder Energi (Kristiansand, Norway) and Lyse Energi (Stavanger, Norway) - said they intend to push ahead without SSE. SSE was the only U.K. company involved in the project and it remains unclear if the group will seek another U.K.-based partner.

"SSE has today announced that it will no longer have a financial involvement in the NorthConnect project, the interconnector development company seeking to build a subsea electricity cable between Great Britain and Norway," the company stated. "Following an internal review of the project it was deemed that a combination of the need to focus on core markets, the number of alternative investment opportunities available (particularly in network and generation assets) and the lack of short-term clarity on the regulatory regime around interconnectors meant that continuing the project was not in SSE's strategic interest."

NorthConnect is designed to allow for flows of energy from Scotland to Norwegian pumped-storage hydro schemes during periods of high renewable production and low electricity demand in the U.K. market, while giving Norway access to renewable energy during periods of dry or freezing weather that may restrict the capacity of pumped-storage hydro.

The project began conducting environmental studies and potential cable laying routes last May. For additional information, see May 17, 2012, article - Norway and Scotland to Share Renewable Energy .

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