Construction Has Commenced for EGL2 Cable Route
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Construction has officially commenced on the cable route for the Eastern Green Link 2 (EGL2) project. EGL2 is the nation’s largest electricity transmission project, with a planned investment exceeding £4.3bn. This 525kV, 2GW high voltage direct current (HVDC) subsea link will span approximately 436km under the North Sea—connecting Peterhead in Scotland to Drax in North Yorkshire, England—along with an additional 69km of underground cable to its converter stations. The project promises to deliver enough electricity to power two million homes, and is scheduled for completion in 2029.
Balfour Beatty officially launched construction of the cable route on 18th August 2025, following simultaneous ground-breaking ceremonies at both termini in Peterhead and Drax the previous September. These events, hosted by National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) and SSEN Transmission, symbolized the importance of this superhighway for decarbonising Britain’s energy supply. Civil engineering works—such as the converter station platform at Peterhead—have already advanced ahead of schedule, with local firms and supply chains playing a key role in project delivery.
EGL2 is delivered as a joint venture by NGET and SSEN Transmission, the route exploits HVDC technology’s strengths: long-distance, high-capacity, efficient power transfer, crucial for integrating Scotland’s burgeoning renewable generation with demand centers in England. Prysmian Group are supplying the cable and Hitachi Energy and BAM are supplying the converter stations.
EGL2 is also setting benchmarks for sustainability in project execution. In North Yorkshire, construction operations have transitioned to low-carbon Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (HVO) for material handling trucks, slashing direct CO2 emissions by up to 90% compared with conventional diesel. This sustainability strategy reduces particulate pollution and advances the UK’s commitments to green infrastructure beyond headline generation or transmission capacity.
