Sites chosen for Viking Link's landfall

The developers of a proposed €2 billion link between Britain and Denmark's electrical systems have put forward suggested sites for cables to come ashore and converter stations to be placed.
The locations chosen to go to consultation.The locations chosen to go to consultation.
The locations chosen to go to consultation.

National Grid Viking Link ltd and Energinet.dk, the Danish Transmission System Operator, are set to go to consultation over the sites in April.

The sites at which the cables could come ashore are at Huttoft Bank, a point just south of Sandilands Golf Course and Anderby Creek.

The four converter station sites are all within a five-kilometre radius of Bicker Fen Substation.

The locations chosen to go to consultation.The locations chosen to go to consultation.
The locations chosen to go to consultation.

The sites have been picked following discussions with local authorities, statutory bodies and parish councils.

A statement from the developers said: “We will be consulting the public on these in April, to help us identify a preferred landfall site and converter station site. We will be holding public consultation events in these areas and we will be contacting people shortly with more details once dates and venues are confirmed.

“In the summer we will hold the second phase of public consultation, to help us identify a preferred cable route option and the detailed design of the converter station.”

The estimated €2 billion Viking Link proposal is said to enable Britain to import and export electricity to the contient and involves installing two high voltage direct current (HVDC) undersea and underground cables 760kms between Denmark and Bicker Fen Substation, Lincolnshire.

The locations chosen to go to consultation.The locations chosen to go to consultation.
The locations chosen to go to consultation.

The converter station will change the ‘direct current’ electricity into ‘alternating current’.

Deveopers say that connecting to Denmark will ‘allow the UK to trade with the wider European, Scandinavian and Nordic electricity markets and bring additional sources of energy to Britain from Denmark and its neighbouring countries’.

They say this will enable more competition in the energy market which ‘should have a positive impact on energy prices’.

The link is also said to help the country meet its energy needs by providing access to additional sources of power and help to tackle greenhouse gas emissions.

To bring the cables ashore, the developers would ‘expect to drill underneath any beaches and sea defences’.

The cables would then be laid in a trench about one metre wide and will need a cable corridor – the working area, including the trench – of approximately 15 metres (45 feet) wide. This will allow access for machinery and equipment.