A new facility has opened in Glasgow to act as a base for the £4.3 billion project to deliver a series of subsea electricity transmission links between Scotland and England.
The Eastern Green Link (EGL) Collaboration Centre will bring together employees from SSEN Transmission and National Grid Electricity Transmission Joint Venture, as well as the supply chain partners appointed to the Eastern Green Link 2 and 3 projects.
Simultaneous groundbreaking events took place in Peterhead and Drax in September to mark the commencement of construction of the £4.3 billion EGL2, which will see a 525kV, 2GW high voltage direct current (HVDC) subsea transmission cable created to connect the two. EGL3 will see a link established between Peterhead and Lincolnshire.
SSEN said that, once complete, EGL2 and EGL3 will be the biggest electricity transmission projects ever delivered in the UK and will play a ‘critical’ role in helping Scotland and the UK to meet energy security and clean power targets.
The new office space in Glasgow has capacity for around 80 green workers and SSEN said it will act as a base for green employment opportunities in the central belt, as well as giving the National Grid a presence in Scotland for the first time.
The facility has been designed with collaboration in mind, and includes a performance centre which makes use of ‘cutting-edge’ technology to drive performance; a dedicated area for supply chain partners to collaborate; and a space where both transmission operators can come together and work as one combined EGL team.
Speaking as the office was officially opened, Rob McDonald, SSEN Transmission’s MD, said, “The opening of the Eastern Green Link Collaboration Centre in Glasgow is yet another demonstration of the country’s transition to a clean, green energy future, and the quality jobs that are being created, both as part of this joint venture and in our supply chain.
“EGL2 and EGL3 are two crucial projects that we’re working to deliver at SSEN Transmission as part of our £20 billion ‘Pathway to 2030’ investment programme to help achieve the energy security and net zero goals of Scotland and the UK.
“Having a dedicated office space in the centre of Glasgow for the EGL pipeline of subsea projects will see the central belt, as well as the north and north east of Scotland, benefitting economically from the delivery of this crucial new infrastructure.”
Carl Trowell, National Grid Electricity Transmission’s president for UK strategic infrastructure, added, “This collaboration centre is National Grid’s first bricks and mortar presence in Glasgow, and we are pleased to also be increasing our presence across our other joint ventures in Scotland due to the size and scale of our projects.
“National Grid is investing £30 billion in the UK over the next five years; a transformational step up in clean energy infrastructure investment, unprecedented in its scale and ambition.
“This investment is a stimulus for economic growth and will support 55,000 more UK jobs by the end of the decade, while also accelerating the decarbonisation of the energy system for the digital, electrified economies of the future.”
