Eastern Green Links


Eastern Green Links are two planned submarine high voltage direct current power cables from the East coast of Scotland to Northeast England to strengthen the National Grid. The two links combined will deliver 4GW of renewable energy from Scottish wind farms to England.
Ofgem state that "At an estimated cost of £3.4billion for the two links, the Eastern HVDC projects would be the largest electricity transmission investment project in the recent history of Great Britain." They approved the schemes as part of the Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment Framework.
In July 2022, Ofgem published its conditional decision on the Final needs case for the Eastern HVDC project, confirming its choice of two separate HVDC links, each rated at 2GW.

Scotland-England Green Link 1 (SEGL1)

SEGL1 will run from Torness in Southeast Scotland to Hawthorn Pit substation in Murton, County Durham. Landfall in England will be to the North of Seaham, on the Durham Coast. It is developed by Scottish Power Transmission plc and National Grid Electricity Transmission plc with a budget of £1.294billion.
In December 2022, the connection received approval from the UK energy regulator Ofgem. As of July 2024, construction was expected to run from 2025 to 2029. Construction began on 13 February 2025.
The cable will carry 2GW. The DC voltage will be +/-525kV, using voltage source converter technology, carried on cross-linked polyethylene cables, with a fall back option of mass impregnated cables.

Eastern Green Link 2 (EGL2)

The cable will run from Sandford Bay, at Peterhead in Scotland, to the Drax Power Station in Yorkshire, England. The northern converter station will be next to the existing power station at Peterhead.
The subsea portion of the cable will be approximately long, from the Aberdeenshire coast to the East Riding of Yorkshire.
EGL2 is a joint venture between SSEN Transmission and National Grid Electricity Transmission. with a budget of £4.3 billion. It is needed to reinforce the National Grid, to "alleviate existing and future constraints on the electricity transmission network", and support new renewable electricity generation. The main contractors are Prysmian, Hitachi Energy, and BAM.
Contracts to construct the cable were finalised in February 2024. The final approvals from OfGEM, came in August 2024 and construction began in September 2024. Target date for energisation was 2029.
The cable will carry 2GW. The DC voltage will be +/-525kV, using Voltage Source converter technology, carried on Cross-linked polyethylene cables, with a fall back option of mass impregnated cables.

Further proposals

As part of the National Grid's Great Grid Upgrade project, Eastern Green Link 3 is proposed from Aberdeenshire to Lincolnshire and Eastern Green Link 4 is proposed from Fife to Lincolnshire. Eastern Green Link 5 is proposed from Lincolnshire to Scotland with the Scottish landfall location yet to be determined.
In December 2025, Ofgem approved two subsea grid connections linking Scottish windfarms to southern England in order to improve their utilisation. National Grid, SSE and Scottish Power will invest in the two subsea power cables – EGL3 from Peterhead and EGL4 from Westfield, Fife – which could begin operations in 2034. The southern terminal of both cables at Anderby Creek, Lincolnshire will connect to a new link between Grimsby and Walpole, Norfolk.