National Grid : Consultation closes on Viking Link

24 May 2016

• Consultation closed on 20 May
• Opinions important in choosing cable landfall sites and converter station locations

The team behind proposals for a 740-kilometre electricity link between Denmark and Bicker Fen has thanked residents, farmers, landowners and other members of the community for giving their views on the project.

Viking Link is a proposal to link Britain and Denmark's electricity systems, enabling Britain to import and export power to the continent. This will help provide Britain with a secure supply of affordable electricity and help the move towards more renewable and low carbon sources of energy.

The project would involve installing undersea and underground cables between Denmark and Bicker Fen and building a 10-acre 'converter station' in the Bicker Fen area.

Over the last six weeks, National Grid Viking Link Limited (NGVL) have been inviting local people, councils and other bodies to give their views on potential sites for the converter station and locations where the electricity cables could come ashore.

Public consultation finished on Friday (20 May). The project team will now take into account all the feedback as they identify a preferred landing point for the cables and a preferred site for the converter station.

Oliver Wood, National Grid Viking Link Project Director, said: 'Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to give us their views.

'Viking Link will help provide our country with a secure supply of affordable electricity and help us move towards more renewable and low carbon sources of energy. However, it will require new equipment and this feedback will be vital in helping us choose the best sites for our equipment.

'We will be reviewing all the feedback we have had and making a decision. We will keep people updated as we move into the next phase of consultation, due to be held this summer, on cable route options.'

NGVL shortlisted three potential sites where the cables can come ashore -a point just north of Sandilands Golf Course, Huttoft and Anderby Creek. The company has identified four possible converter station sites, all within a five-kilometre radius of Bicker Fen Substation.

Following feedback from the public consultation, the company will confirm a preferred converter station location and landfall point for the cables. The project team will then look at potential cable routes between these points and will carry out a further public consultation on cable route options in the summer.

Viking Link is being developed in co-operation between National Grid Viking Link Ltd and Energinet.dk, the Danish electricity transmission system operator.

It would involve laying two high voltage, direct current cables, each approximately 15 centimetres in diameter, between Revsing in Denmark and Bicker Fen and building a 'converter station' in the Bicker Fen area to change the direct current electricity into the alternating current electricity used on land.

More information can be found on the project website: www.viking-link.com. If anyone has any questions they can contact the project team on 0800 731 0561 or email vikinglink@communityrelations.co.uk.