National Grid in talks for Energy Island
UK company National Grid
UK company National Grid has revealed it is in talks with two other parties about building an “energy island” in the North Sea that would use wind farms to supply clean electricity to millions of homes in north-west Europe.
The idea of a renewable energy hub in the North Sea has been floated for years, but has yet to progress from studies to reality. The concept envisages offshore wind farms that have a much larger capacity than those in use today, with sub-sea electricity cables taking the energy to whichever country needs it most.
National Grid is a major developer of such long-distance cables in the region, most recently one from Norway to the UK, so its involvement in talks with other energy firms increases the chance of the idea being developed.
“We are in tripartite discussions over an energy island that the UK would likely connect to,” says Nicola Medalova at National Grid. She wouldn’t name the two other parties the company is talking to. A spokesperson for National Grid also declined to confirm the parties involved.
“There are now a number of energy island concepts being promoted by different parties in countries such as in Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands, and we’re in conversations with them all to understand the concepts out there,” said the spokesperson.
Other energy network operators around the North Sea have signalled their interest in building an energy island, including Elia in Belgium and TenneT in the Netherlands. Two years ago, TenneT concluded that such a project would be technically feasible, despite the engineering challenges. However, the company tells New Scientist that it isn’t in “concrete” talks with National Grid about an energy island. Belgium’s energy minister, Tinne Van der Straeten, said in May that the country would build an island to “interconnect our wind turbines”, built by Elia.
A spokesperson for Elia says it is developing a second electricity interconnector cable between the UK and Belgium, known as Nautilus, but “whether Nautilus will be connected to the Belgian energy island is currently uncertain.”