UK considering Norwegian interconnector via Dogger Bank

UK/NORWAY: The UK government is considering two new interconnectors, including another link with Norway, which would pass through the 4.8GW Dogger Bank projects.

The four Dogger Bank projects are proposed over 130km off the UK's Yorkshire coast

The link would allow electricity from the Dogger Bank projects to be topped up by hydroelectricity from Norway if wind production falls, according to the Independent on Sunday newspaper.

This would allow a more constant flow of green energy to be transmitted into the UK's grid.

The Dogger Bank zone comprises four 1.2GW projects being developed by the Forewind consortium. The group consists of utilities RWE Innogy, SSE and Norwegian firms Statkraft and Statoil.

The zone is located 131 kilometres from the UK's east coast at its nearest point.

"We are building a new energy infrastructure which is fit for the 21st century, and interconnection will play a key role in providing clean and secure energy for families and businesses. A number of new projects that will nearly triple our interconnection capacity are already in the pipeline, and we are looking at the viability of other interesting proposals," said a UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) spokeswoman.

Decc also confirmed a taskforce has been set up to look in to the potential for an up to 1.2GW interconnector between the UK and Iceland. The taskforce is expected to make its recommendations in May, Decc said.

UK energy regulator Ofgem will open a second "cap and floor" regime window for proposals for interconnectors with the UK in March 2016.

Currently, the UK has 4GW of interconnection capacity with a further 6.7GW approved, including the Nemo Link between the UK and Belgium and the NSN Link between the UK and Norway. Both these priojects are already under construction.