National Grid and Scottish Power project to bring renewable power from Scotland to England awarded £1.8bn

A joint project from Scottish Power and the National Grid will allow renewable energy to be transmitted from Scotland to England.

The companies plan to begin building the “transformative” £2.5bn high-voltage power line along the east coast of the country from Torness, East Lothian, to Hawthorn Pit, County Durham, from 2025.

The project, named Eastern Green Link 1 (EGL1), has become one of the UK’s largest grid upgrade projects in generations and aims to bring renewable energy to two million homes.

It will play a major role in the UK moving towards its net zero target and includes six subsea links between Scotland and England – of which this joint project is the first.

The project reached another milestone in the development of a new subsea electricity superhighway by awarding the Prysmian Group a £750m contract to deliver the UK’s first 525kV HVDC electricity transmission cable.

EGL1’s Project Director Peter Roper said: “EGL1 is a transformative project for the UK, enhancing security of supply and helping to connect and transport green power for all customers.

“These contract announcements are big wins for the supply chain and another important milestone as we build the new network infrastructure to help the UK meet its net zero and energy security ambitions.

“We look forward to working in collaboration with Prysmian, GE Vernova and MYTILINEOS as the project continues to progress.”

National Grid’s research has also found that there will be an estimated 400,000 job opportunities for a net zero energy workforce by 2050, including around 150,000 jobs anticipated in Scotland and the North of England.