Work starts on UK-side converter station for Germany/UK subsea power link
Work is officially underway to pour more than 5,000 cubic metres of concrete to form the huge 17,000m2 base required for a new UK converter station for NeuConnect, an energy link between the UK and Germany.
Led by global investors Meridiam, Allianz Capital Partners, Kansai Electric Power and TEPCO, the £2.4 billion ($3.2 million) NeuConnect project will be one of the world’s largest interconnectors.
New converter stations will be built on the Isle of Grain in Kent and Wilhelmshaven in northern Germany, connected by 725 kilometres of land and subsea cables. The new link will allow 1.4GW of electricity to flow in either direction.
Earlier this year, main contractor Siemens Energy completed piling works to form the foundations of the UK converter station, allowing work to now start to create the huge concrete slab that will form the base of the station.
Some 5,775m3 of concrete will be poured in total to create a concrete slab covering a 17,350m2 area – the equivalent of two and a half full size football pitches or 66 tennis courts. Once completed, Siemens Energy will then begin work on the above ground superstructure in the coming weeks.
This latest phase of UK works follows progress on subsea cabling works (where the first phase of cabling was completed last year and will resume later this summer), and at NeuConnect’s construction site in Germany where piling works on the converter station were recently completed by Siemens Energy, with a total of 1,800 piles now drilled and set.
NeuConnect is expected to be operational by 2028.
