New UK-Scotland cable link

Prysmian Group has received notification from SSEN Transmission, and National Grid Electricity Transmission, Great Britain’s electricity transmission network owners, that it has been selected as the exclusive preferred bidder for the Eastern Green Link 2 (EGL2) cable connection between England and Scotland.

Prysmian Group is currently continuing the contract negotiations with the aim of concluding the contract soon.

Eastern Green Link 2 is a planned high voltage direct current submarine and underground cable link of around 500 km total length between Peterhead in Scotland and Drax in the Northeast of England. With a power transmission capacity of 2 GW the connection is expected to be one of the first cable systems in the UK to utilise 525 kV technology with extruded XLPE insulation.

EGL2 forms part of a series of planned system reinforcements required to increase the capability of the existing UK transmission network and facilitate the growth in flows of renewable generation primarily in Scotland to demand centres to the South, supporting the target of enabling 50 GW offshore wind generation by 2030 and achieving a Net Zero economy by 2050.

The full scheme consists of two 2 GW capacity submarine and underground power cables from the East coast of Scotland to northeast England. National regulator Ofgem states that “At an estimated cost of £3.4 billion for the two links, the Eastern HVDC projects would be the largest electricity transmission investment project in the recent history of Great Britain.”

In July 2022 Ofgem published its conditional decision on the Final needs case for the Eastern HVDC project, confirming its choice of two separate HVDC links, each rated at 2 GW.

The University of Manchester partnership will produce a new syngas & blue hydrogen tech

Kent, a leading engineering company in the area of oil and gas, carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), and hydrogen (H2) technologies, has partnered with The University of Manchester to produce a new syngas and blue hydrogen technology with nearly zero direct carbon-dioxide emissions.

The RECYCLE project (REthinking low Carbon hYdrogen production by Chemical Looping rEforming), a £ 5.1 million multiorganisation collaboration funded by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, will construct and test a fully integrated innovative hydrogen production unit at The University of Manchester.

The technology is based on chemical looping reforming using fixed bed reactors which allow modular units and cost-effective solutions for hydrogen production using different feedstocks, with inherent carbon dioxide capture and separation at high purity.

The RECYCLE process provides a flexible method for hydrogen and or syngas production, while also showing economic potential benefits over other blue hydrogen production pathways.

RECYCLE technology could supply hydrogen to several sectors in the UK, focusing on smaller scale industrial sites, with its ability to tap into large demand sectors that require syngas to develop other lowcarbon products.

Kent will bring its engineering expertise and commercial knowhow, to complete a techno-economic study assessment of the RECYCLE technology.

Luigi Crolla, Head of Energy Transition Technologies at Kent, said: “We are delighted to be part of this cutting-edge project. It is aligned with Kent’s purpose to be a catalyst for energy transition and an exciting addition to our blue hydrogen project portfolio.”

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