Offshore wind farms in the North Sea are being built further away from the shore (100–150 km). Transporting the electricity generated by the wind turbines over long distances is a challenge.
On March 30, Siemens announced it was awarded a GBP3 billion ($5.09 billion) contract by National Grid and Iberdrola for Eastern Green Link 4 (EGL4) converter stations. EGL4, along with EGL3, is a high-voltage electricity link between Scotland and England that would integrate more offshore wind energy into the grid. EGL3 and EGL4 are proposed to start from Peterhead, Aberdeenshire and Westfield, Fife, respectively and converge in Walpole, Norfolk, where a substation would connect the cables to the power network.
”The Siemens Energy contract includes two converter stations, one in Fife in Scotland and one in Norfolk in England,” National Grid and Scottish Power, the UK arm of Spanish power and gas utility Iberdrola, said in the March 30 press release. “The converter stations change alternating current into direct current, the most efficient way for high-voltage electricity to travel across long distances. Once converted, the electricity will travel around 640km, primarily undersea, before being converted back to join the onshore transmission network.
