UK National Grid and Norway’s Statnett sign interconnector project

UK National Grid and Norway’s Statnett have signed the 1400 MW NSN Subsea Interconnector project between Norway and UK.

Specifically, the new sub-sea electricity interconnector will be more than 730 km long and link Kvilldal in Norway and Blyth in the UK. Kvilldal has the largest power station in Norway in terms of capacity with 1240 MW. The plant is powered by the artificial lake Blasjo reservoir.

The project, which will allow UK to buy hydro-power from Norway to provide about 14% of its yearly household electricity needs, is expected to be operational by 2021.

The total project investment is estimated at €2 billion (US$2.19 billion).

In mid October we reported that Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy (NMPE) granted Statnett licences to develop the project. At that time NMPE also granted licences to develop the NordLink Subsea Interconnector project between Tonstad in Norway and Schleswig-Holstein in Germany.