National Grid Viking Link on shore cable route update

What is Viking Link?

Viking Link is a 1400 Megawatt (MW) high voltage DC electricity link connecting the electricity transmission systems at Bicker Fen in Lincolnshire, Great Britain and Revsing in southern Jutland, Denmark, crossing through the territorial waters of both the Netherlands and Germany.

Viking Link will be approximately 760 kilometres in total length and is planned to be in operation in 2022.

The Technical Project

Viking Link will be made up of submarine and underground cables with an optional fibre optic cable connected to a converter station and existing electricity substation in Great Britain and Denmark, allowing electricity to flow in either direction between the two countries.

The offshore section of the project will consist of a pair of high voltage DC submarine cables buried in the sea bed and extending for approximately 630 kilometres between Great Britain and Denmark. The submarine cable route corridor will pass through UK, Dutch, German and Danish Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs).

The onshore DC and fibre optic cables will be buried in one cable trench.

Converter Stations

Viking Link will involve the construction of two converter stations, sited in Great Britain and Denmark. The stations will occupy a footprint each of approximately 4 to 5 hectares. Additional land may be required for access and any environmental mitigation that may be required. There will also be some additional temporary land requirements during the construction period for laydown and contractor facilities.

Underground Cables

The converter stations are connected by a pair of high voltage DC underground and submarine cables. Typically, the cables are around 150 mm in diameter and will operate at a voltage of 500 kilo Volt (kV). Within Great Britain buried AC cables will connect the converter station to the existing high voltage electricity transmission system substation.

The onshore part of the Viking Link project is known as the UK Onshore Scheme.

The UK Onshore Scheme comprises of the installation of two underground direct current (DC) cables from the landfall point to the converter station; the construction of a permanent access road, as well as the installation of underground alternating current (AC) cables from the converter station to the existing substation at Bicker Fen.

Converter station and landfall sites

Potential sites for a landfall point and a converter station were discussed with representatives from local authorities, statutory bodies, parish councils as well as local residents during the Phase 1 consultation in 2016 on the shortlisted site options. These discussions helped to inform our site selection assessments.

Comments and feedback from this phase of consultation were carefully considered and, on 22 August 2016, we confirmed our preferred locations for the landfall point and converter station.

The landfall point is at Boygrift, East Lindsey (adjacent to Sandilands Golf club) and the converter station site is at North Ing Drove, South Holland (within the parish of Donington).

Cable route corridor options between proposed landfall and converter station sites

The purple corridor was selected as the proposed cable route corridor for the underground cables between the landfall and converter station sites as shown on the map below.

The proposed route corridor option is now confirmed:  

The cable route is 67km (41.6 miles) long. The route follows public highway and private land, for which we have planning consent, terminating the Converter station where the power connects to the national electricity grid.

Contact us

If you have any questions, please contact our team at vikinglink@communityfeedback.co.uk or ring 0800 731 0561.