National Grid: Seas and Oceans

(asked on 3rd November 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what his policy is on the development of offshore electricity grids; and whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of introducing an offshore electricity grid and ring main to connect offshore wind turbines to the grid in (a) East Anglia and (b) London as an alternative to the overheard electricity cables and pylons proposed in the East Anglia Green Energy Enablement project.


Answered by
Graham Stuart Portrait
Graham Stuart
Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
This question was answered on 11th November 2022

The Electricity System Operator’s Holistic Network Design provides the first step towards a strategic approach to offshore network planning. Projects too advanced to be included, due to pre-existing connection contracts, can voluntarily opt-in to coordinate. Two such ‘Pathfinders’ have been announced and five other projects have committed to exploring coordination in East Anglia.

Alternatives to East Anglia GREEN have been considered by National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) which showed an equivalent offshore network would have a lifetime cost of £7.8bn compared to £1.1bn. No final decision has been taken. NGET will launch its statutory consultation in early 2023.

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