UK government claims that LionLink will be the 'world's largest multi-use electricity power line', planned to power more homes than Manchester and Birmingham combined.
The multipurpose LionLink will join the UK and Netherlands as well as simultaneously with offshore wind farms at the heart of the North Sea. It aims to secure Britain’s energy supply, reducing reliance on Russian energy and cutting household bills.
The cross-border electricity line will be the second of its kind, the first having been built by Germany and Denmark. However, government says it will carry more than four times the amount of electricity as its predecessor.
LionLink was announced as energy security secretary Grant Shapps led a British business delegation to the North Sea Summit in Belgium, aiming to boost collective energy security through new renewable energy and interconnector projects.
The summit saw nine countries meet in Ostend to agree ambitions for building future offshore wind farms – the UK, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway and the Netherlands.
“Together with the strong ties we have with our northern European neighbours united today at the North Sea Summit, we are bolstering our energy security and sending a strong signal to Putin’s Russia that the days of his dominance over global power markets are well and truly over,” said Shapps.
MORE IN ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT
Ben Wilson, president, National Grid Ventures said that connecting wind farms to multiple markets simultaneously is a ‘game changer for energy infrastructure’, bringing us closer to realising the North Sea’s ‘enormous green energy potential’.
“Not only can we deploy every spare electron where it is needed most, we can help to reduce the impact of infrastructure on coastal communities,” Wilson said.
“We now need the right political, legal and regulatory framework to make it happen and establish a mutually beneficial North Sea grid to deliver a cleaner, fairer, more secure and more affordable energy future for British and European consumers.”
This builds on the 8.4GW interconnector capacity that the UK has. LionLink alone will increase that by up to a fifth, the government said in its announcement.
Labour pledge to tackle four key barriers in UK energy transition
I'm all for clarity and would welcome anyone who can enlighten me about what Labour's plans are for the size and scale of this Great British Energy....