Hecate Independent Power (HIP), an Anglo-American joint venture company, has announced plans to build a £21bn ($30bn) offshore wind project in the North Atlantic to power the UK.
The HIP Atlantic Project proposes the installation of 10GW of fixed and floating wind turbines. It would power the UK through submarine power transmission cables.
The high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cables will be manufactured at a £200m ($277m) bespoke power cable plant, planned to be built at a port in the north-east of England.
A 2GW capacity will initially be developed off the southern and eastern coasts of Iceland, expected to come online by early 2025.
The company said that this capacity alone would create 15,000 jobs in the UK.
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By GlobalDataThe initial capacity’s commissioning year will coincide with the decommissioning of the UK’s last coal-fired power plants as well as the original generation of commercial nuclear power plants.
HIP chairman Tony Baldry said: “HIP Atlantic fulfils the Prime Minister’s [Boris Johnson] vision of attracting investment and job creation in the North of England as part of this country’s ambitious policy to make Britain the world leader in offshore wind energy.
“We will stretch the zone of British-operated wind generation outside of our traditional territorial waters, pushing the boundaries of existing cable technology to generate more than 1,000kms from our grid landfall points throughout England.”
The initial investment for the 2GW phase of the project is expected to be £2.9m ($4m) this year, set to increase by £144m ($200m) through 2025.
HIP said that this pilot phase is expected to create almost 500 jobs in the south and east of Iceland.
The company has filed applications with National Grid Company regarding four connections for an initial 4GW of grid connections to the 400kV electricity transmission system across four connection sites in the UK.
Consisting of 1GW of wind turbines, each wind farm or ‘pod’ will have its own dedicated cable, which will be linked to the UK.
The Atlantic HVDC transmission cables will never be connected to the Icelandic transmission system. The wind capacity will be solely connected to the UK and dispatched by National Grid.
HIP comprises Hecate Wind, a subsidiary of US-based Hecate Holdings, and Independent Power Corporation, a British company that develops conventional power plants worldwide.
