British energy regulator Ofgem will invest £95 million ($150 million) to help pay for upgrades on Scotland’s aging power grids and allow it to connect more renewable energy between different locations.
The National Grid Electricity Transmission and Scottish Power Transmission will spend more than £80 million for projects that would help increase the amount of electricity flowing between the high-voltage networks of England and Scotland. This is expected to allow electricity export from the latter to the former
The remaining £11.5 million will be spent by Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission to upgrade its network and develop connections north of Scotland.
Wave and tidal energy is a notable energy resource in the northern region, especially in the Pentland Firth and Orkney Islands. The new connections will allow more areas to access the power generated from these resources.
Ofgem, Britain’s Office of the Gas and Electricity Markets, also allowed the National Grid to spend an additional £1 million on initial work for a proposed power cable linking Pembroke and Wylfa in Wales. This could help accommodate offshore wind power soon to rise from the Irish Sea.
The £95 million funding is the latest stage of an investment program introduced last January so that Britain could meet its 2020 renewable energy targets and carbon reduction goals.
It already funded an initial tranche worth £319 million to cover construction work up to 2012, when it ends.
Ofgem is planning to extend the program one more year for projects approved in January 2010. The total funding under this framework could increase by £140 million more.
So far, Ofgem has approved more than £400 million, including the £95 million package announced today.
Other projects considered for funding include the proposed Western high-voltage direct current link connecting Hunterston in Scotland to Deeside in England, which would further increase the export capacity from Scotland to England.
Ofgem estimates that Britain’s gas and electricity network companies will need to invest over £30 billion over the next decade to develop a smarter power network and meet energy demands sustainably.
