EGL2 in 2024: Turning purpose into process

Image of blue and white Eastern Green Link 2 signage
A blog by Ricky Saez, EGL2 Project Director 

2024 has been a colossal year for the UK’s biggest ever electricity transmission project – the Eastern Green Link 2 (EGL2).

As the year draws to a close, it’s important to take time to reflect on the massive amount of work that has been undertaken across the SSEN Transmission and National Grid Electricity Transmission Joint Venture (JV) to get the project to the stage it is at now.

Last week, we brought the EGL team together in York to look back on 2024, celebrate successes, share areas for learning and start to look ahead to an even bigger year in 2025.

The first significant milestone of the year came in February – enabling works at the northern end of the link were already underway when the JV signed and sealed two huge contracts with key suppliers to deliver the project

  • Prysmian signed a contract to produce and install the full HVDC cable linking Peterhead and Drax; and
  • Hitachi Energy, in partnership with BAM, signed a contract to deliver a convertor station at either end of the link.

Contracts of this value take an enormous amount of effort to execute and are crucial in delivering projects at this scale in a successful and timely manner.

Just as important, is delivering EGL2 in a way that is conscious of the environment we’ll operate in and the community we’ll serve, and huge progress was madethroughout the year in doing so, with tree planting taking place, community-based initiatives like beach cleans and local donations being made – to name just a few initiatives that are getting us started in our work to leave a positive legacy behind.

Early in the year, ground investigation works started at the southern end of the link , with borehole digging and archaeological surveys undertaken at the Wren Hall convertor station site at Drax, with no concerns noted, the site was passed fit for the main construction phase to begin.

In the summer, another critical milestone was achieved, with Ofgem confirming final approval on the expected investment of around £4.3bn for the delivery of the 525kV, 2GW subsea electricity superhighway. A landmark moment, with the decision being the final approval needed for work to get started in earnest.

And that monumental moment – my personal highlight of the year – took place at the end of September, when alongside Ofgem and our supply chain partners, we simultaneously broke ground at either end of the EGL2 cable project, formally marking the start of construction.

As the year drew to a close, acknowledging the growth of the EGL team – which grew from around 200 people at the start of the year, to over 300 by the end of it – we celebrated the next step forward in successfully collaborating as a joint venture by opening the new EGL collaboration centre in Glasgow – a shared office space with capacity for around 80 green energy workers, and National Grid’s first bricks and mortar office presence north of the border.

2024 has been a remarkable year – and one that we should all be proud of – but as we move into 2025, it’s time to turn our well-established purpose into a process of delivery.

The next 12 months will be critical in keeping the project on track to be delivered in a safe, sustainable and environmentally-conscious way, completing in 2029, and as the construction phase gathers pace, we’ll be looking to:

  • Fully establish our presence on site in Peterhead and at Wren Hall;
  • Complete platforms at both sites;
  • Further embed ourselves in the communities we are operating in by launching key community benefit funding initiatives;’Undertake offshore UXO Target Investigation surveys;
  • Conclude archaeological trial trenching in the south;
  • Complete southern cable enabling works allowing discharge of planning conditions and commencement of construction;
  • And much, much more...

All that’s left to say is a huge ‘thank you’ to the EGL2 team, Ofgem, our supply chain partners and the communities between Peterhead and Drax for getting us to the end of a very successful year, and here’s to more success in ’25.