The Norwegian Government has today granted a licence for the longest subsea electricity interconnector in the world, to be built between the UK and Norway. The interconnector, known as NSN, will connect our countries’ electricity systems providing significant mutual benefits, improving energy security and bringing Norwegian renewable energy to Europe.
Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey said: “This is excellent news for both the UK and Norway. This new cable will allow the UK to import huge amounts of clean green hydroelectricity – enough to power up to 4 million homes – to back up our wind and solar power. This bolsters our energy security and will help keep consumers’ bills down. It’s a massive win-win for consumers and the climate.”
Subject to progress with the regulatory settlement between Ofgem and the developers (Statnett and National Grid), the project expects to reach final investment decision in spring 2015.
NSN is one of five interconnector projects which recently applied to be assessed under Ofgem’s new regulatory regime for interconnector investment, in addition to the NEMO interconnector to Belgium which piloted the regime and expects to make an investment decision early next year.
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