Research council backs North Sea supergrid

Earlier this month, ministers from the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden signed an agreement to develop the North Sea supergrid to enable integration of offshore wind farms and other marine energy devices.

For his part, Aberdeen University’s Dr Dragan Jovcic will lead a 36-month research project to address the technological challenges of designing the undersea electricity grid, which will consist of high-voltage subsea cables with multiple connections to North Sea countries and multiple DC substations to connect offshore power farms.

Dr Dragan Jovcic said: ’Whilst onshore power grids operate using alternating current [AC], a subsea grid would use direct current [DC] - this is because AC power can only be transmitted over relatively short distances using subsea cables.’

Currently, DC power transmission is only possible from one point to another. A network such as the North Sea supergrid would require a much more complex transmission system where multiple DC lines may interconnect.