OFGEM has approved a £3.4 billion electricity “super highway” between Scotland and England.
The 500 kilometre Eastern Green Link 2 (EGL2) project will stretch from Aberdeenshire to North Yorkshire and transport vast amounts of renewable energy between Scotland and England.
It marks the biggest investment in for electricity transmission infrastructure in the UK.
The joint venture between Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks and National Grid is part of a push to modernise the electricity grid.
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Despite being able to carry electricity in both directions, the majority from the link is expected to flow out of Scotland.
Chief executive Jonathan Brearley said: “Ofgem is fully committed to supporting the Government to meet its aims of getting clean power by 2030.
“Today’s announcement is a further step in putting the regulatory systems and processes in place to speed up network regulation to achieve its aim.”
However, SNP MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands Gordon Macdonald was critical of the announcement.
Writing on Twitter/X, he said: “Keeping the lights on in England – ‘despite being able to carry electricity in both direction, the majority from the link is expected to flow out of Scotland’.”
The new cable will be able to move two gigawatts of electricity between Scotland and England, partly enabling the latter to benefit from offshore wind energy generated by offshore wind farms in the North Sea.
Ofgem said it is pushing to fast-track the approvals process for power projects to help the UK meet its 2030 net zero carbon emissions target.
The announcement also comes after Labour said it would ease planning regulations, as part of a bid to get more homes and power infrastructure-related schemes built in the coming years.
Most of the 500km (311-mile) cable will be laid under the North Sea, while the rest will be underground onshore, Ofgem said.
Construction is planned to start later this year, with the new connection due to be operational by 2029.
The regulator also provisionally gave the green light to a £295m funding package for a set of upgrades to the electricity grid in Yorkshire.
The project, which is run by National Grid, will involve building new substations and overhead lines to improve networks in the North East of England.
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