SSEN Transmission has selected Hitachi Energy and NKT as preferred bidders for its Western Isles and Spittal-Peterhead offshore high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission links in Scotland.
The Western Isles and Spittal-Peterhead subsea links are part of The Pathway to 2030 Holistic Network Design (HND).
The initiative is a major upgrade of the electricity transmission network across the UK, which is needed for fulfilling the British and Scottish governments’ 2030 renewable energy and climate change targets.
Hitachi Energy will deliver multiple onshore HVDC converter stations to expedite the integration of bulk renewables into the British power grid.
The company will deploy up to five HVDC power corridors or electricity transmission superhighways so that large amounts of clean energy can be transported from northern Scotland to areas of higher usage in the south.
Each of the connection systems will have a capacity of up to 2GW and a voltage level of 525kV.
Hitachi Energy said the total 10GW clean energy capacity will deliver the equivalent power consumption for nearly 10 million households in the UK.
NKT has been selected to supply 525kV XLPE HVDC power cable systems for the Western Isles and Spittal-Peterhead subsea links.
SSEN Transmission managing director Rob McDonald said: “Reaching preferred bidder status for the Western Isles and Spittal-Peterhead HVDC cables and converter systems is a hugely important step to support the timely delivery of these projects, particularly given global supply chain constraints in HVDC technology, and is testament to our targeted procurement strategy which prioritised securing these key components at the earliest opportunity.”
According to SSEN Transmission, contract negotiations will continue over the coming weeks in order to enter into capacity reservation agreements. It will lead to contract award status later this year, said the transmission owner in the north of Scotland.
Besides, the company has announced that Sumitomo Electric and Van Oord Offshore Wind UK have become part of the former’s Framework of Contractors to provide future subsea cable projects along with NKT.
