Dutch Climate and Green Growth Minister Sophie Hermans has included LionLink, said to be the first direct-current hybrid interconnector, in the country’s latest Offshore Wind Energy Development Framework. LionLink will use the offshore grid connection of the Nederwiek 3 offshore wind farm in the Netherlands to connect to both the Dutch and the UK onshore high-voltage grids.
The interconnector can also be used as an additional high-voltage link to exchange electricity between the countries.
With LionLink now added to the offshore wind development framework, TenneT may now make investments in the project , which the Dutch transmission system operator (TSO) is realising in close cooperation with UK partner National Grid Ventures (NGV).
Before the hybrid interconnector can be realised, several steps still need to be taken, including the Ministry of Climate and Green Growth taking a decision on the details of the market design for wind farm developers in the tender procedure for Nederwiek 3, TenneT said in a press release on 23 December 2024.
Furthermore, new arrangements for market coupling between the European Union and the United Kingdom are needed for the effective operation of the new interconnector, according to the Dutch TSO.
The offshore wind development tender for Nederwiek 3 is planned to be launched in 2026 , when the Dutch government will also award the Nederwiek 2 site and likely the Nederwiek 1B site whose tendering has been postponed.
The LionLink project was launched in April 2023, when the Netherlands and the UK unveiled their plan to build LionLink and said this would be a first-of-its-kind electricity link to connect offshore wind between the two countries via interconnections.
Shortly after this, National Grid Lion Link Limited applied for the electricity interconnector with the UK energy market regulator Ofgem, requesting a licence that would authorize it to participate in the operation of the interconnector in Great Britain.
In June 2023, TenneT contracted GEOxyz to carry out geophysical and geotechnical surveys for the export cable route for the Nederwiek 3 offshore wind farm and in May 2024, Next Geosolutions kicked off a cable route survey for the LionLink line in the UK.