UK Approves Five Subsea Power Cable Projects

UK energy regulator Ofgem on Tuesday approved five new undersea energy links which it said would further harness the vast potential of North Sea wind and help to power millions of homes.

The approved projects include the Tarchon Energy Interconnector with a capacity of 1.4 gigawatts (GW) connecting England and Germany, as well the 0.75 GW Mares Connect cable to the Republic of Ireland and LirlC, a 0.7 GW project to Northern Ireland.

Based on analysis by both Ofgem and the National Energy System Operator (NESO), Britian is expected to become a net energy exporter by 2030 due to the growing amount of renewable generation, the regulator said.

"We've carefully assessed all the proposed projects and only approved those ones which deliver for consumers in terms of value, viability and energy security," Akshay Kaul, director general for infrastructure at Ofgem said in a statement.

Ofgem also approved Britain's first offshore hybrid assets (OHAs), which can directly feed energy generated by offshore wind farms into both British and European grids, and are both planned by National Grid.

The LionLink project, co-owned by Dutch grid operator Tennet, will connect Dutch offshore wind farms to both the Dutch and the British grids and provide up to 1.8 GW of low-carbon electricity to each country.

In the same way, the Nautilus project, co-owned with Belgian grid operator Elia, will connect Belgian offshore wind and provide up to 1.4 GW of capacity to each country.

The new projects are all expected to be complete and operational by the end of 2032, Ofgem said.

National Grid's participation in the OHA projects is conditional on a final investment decision, the company said in a separate statement.

(Reuters - Reporting by Nora Buli; editing by Nina Chestney)