Iberdrola signs contract for new submarine electricity interconnector

The new link, with a capacity of 2000 MW, will connect Fife in Scotland with Norfolk in England using high-voltage direct current (HVDC) technology. It is scheduled to come into operation in 2033 and will enable the transmission of enough renewable energy to supply more than 1.5 million homes.

Eastern Green Link 4 will strengthen the country’s ability to transfer electricity between regions, reduce constraints on electrical networks, and increase security of supply. It will also facilitate the integration of new clean energy sources and support industrial development and economic growth.

Prysmian will manufacture more than 640 km of cable for this project, including 530 km of HVDC submarine cable and more than 116 km of underground cable. This technology allows large volumes of energy to be transported over long distances with maximum efficiency, a decisive factor in advancing towards national clean energy generation targets.

Planning applications for the project, developed by SP Energy Networks and National Grid Electricity Transmission, will be submitted in Scotland and England throughout 2026. Following approval by the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero Emissions, construction is expected to start in 2029 and the interconnector is expected to come on stream in 2033.

SP Energy Networks and National Grid are also working on Eastern Green Link 1, another 2000 MW link whose construction began in 2025 and which will connect Torness in Scotland with Hawthorne Pit in England.

In December 2025, the regulator Ofgem authorised ScottishPower to invest around €14 billion in the modernisation and expansion of the electrical networks in central and southern Scotland.

ScottishPower will build two submarine links using HVDC technology, Eastern Green Link 1 and Eastern Green Link 4, which will connect Scotland and England via the east of the British Isles. In addition, the Western Link 2 project, still in the study phase, will connect Scotland and Wales via a submarine link to the west of the country. These actions will be rolled out until 2031 and triple the investment allocated in the previous regulatory period. With these initiatives, Iberdrola is moving forward in line with the electrification targets set by the British Government in its ‘Clean Power 2030 Plan’.

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