BAM UK & Ireland has been appointed by the British electricity and gas utility National Grid to deliver works at the southern converter station for the proposed Eastern Green Link 3 (EGL3), a high-voltage electricity transmission project.
SSEN Transmission and National Grid Electricity Transmission are jointly developing EGL3, which is intended to connect Peterhead in Aberdeenshire with Walpole in Norfolk.
The EGL3 project involves a proposed 2GW high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission link, which will use a combination of subsea and underground cables.
Approximately 436km of subsea HVDC cable would be installed in English waters, coming ashore north of Anderby Creek on the Lincolnshire coast.
From there, around 5km of underground high voltage alternating current (HVAC) cable is expected to connect to the proposed 400kV Walpole B substation and the wider transmission network.
The new link is designed to transport renewable electricity generated in Scotland to areas with higher demand in England.
Once operational, EGL3 is expected to have the capacity to supply electricity to approximately two million households.
The link is intended to help reduce pressure on the existing grid and support Britain's energy security by increasing network capacity between Scotland and England.
The company’s current energy infrastructure portfolio also includes involvement in the Eastern Green Link 2 (EGL2) project and other major grid works for SSEN Transmission in Scotland.
BAM UK & Ireland infrastructure executive director Huw Jones said: “We're not just building energy infrastructure. We're building the connections that will power Britain's future.
“With BAM appointed to civil engineering works at both ends of EGL3, alongside our work on EGL2, we’re helping transform Britain's electricity network and turn the UK's clean energy ambitions into reality.”
Mott MacDonald is supporting BAM UK & Ireland as the lead civil and structural designer for the EGL3 project.
The contract forms part of National Grid’s wider programme, The Great Grid Upgrade, which seeks to upgrade and reinforce the electricity network to accommodate increasing low-carbon electricity flows and meet rising energy demand.
EGL3 project director Mark Brackley said: “By increasing capacity between Scotland and England, EGL3 will help reduce constraints on the electricity network, allowing more renewable power to be transported from where it is generated to where it is needed.”
Earlier this month, Babcock International Group chose the KierBAM joint venture to carry out a works programme worth around £600m ($804m) for upgrades to the 10 Dock facility at Devonport in Plymouth, UK.
