IN Brief:
- National Grid has opened consultation on Western Link 2, a proposed 2GW HVDC connection between Scotland and Wales.
- The North Wales proposals include about 260km of offshore cable, 25km of underground cable, a new converter station, and Pentir substation works.
- The link would support north-south renewable power transfer as GB transmission reinforcement accelerates.
National Grid has opened the first stage of public consultation on Western Link 2, a proposed high-voltage direct current electricity connection between Scotland and Wales.
Developed with SP Energy Networks, the 2GW link would be capable of moving electricity in either direction. National Grid has placed the project within Uwchraddio’r Grid / The Great Grid Upgrade, with the connection intended to carry more renewable electricity to homes and businesses across Wales while strengthening transfer capability across the wider GB system.
The current North Wales proposals include about 260km of offshore cable to a landfall at Caernarfon Bay, about 25km of underground cable, a new converter station near Pentir, and works to extend the existing Pentir substation. The first consultation runs from 23 June to 21 July 2026, giving communities and stakeholders an early opportunity to review and comment on the plans.
Western Link 2 would add a large controllable route between areas of renewable generation and demand. Scotland’s wind output is already reshaping GB power flows, while Wales and England need reinforcement to manage changing generation, interconnection, and demand patterns. HVDC links provide a route to move bulk power over long distances with controlled flows, reducing some of the constraints associated with equivalent AC reinforcement.
The engineering package is substantial. Subsea cable installation, landfall design, underground cable routing, converter-station construction, substation extension, protection systems, cooling, civil works, and commissioning will all need to be coordinated across a long development timeline. The converter station near Pentir would form the interface between the DC link and the existing AC network, converting power for injection into the grid and controlling the operational characteristics of the connection.
Pentir already sits within a strategically important part of the North Wales transmission system. Earlier reinforcement work in the area included the energisation of a second Dinorwig-Pentir circuit, using hybrid gas-insulated switchgear as part of wider network modernisation. Western Link 2 would add another layer of high-voltage infrastructure around the same network geography.
The broader transmission system is being rebuilt while operating under heavier and more variable flows. Offshore wind, Scottish generation, interconnectors, data centres, electrified transport, and industrial loads are increasing the value of transfer capacity. Existing north-south routes are carrying flows that differ sharply from the system’s historic operating pattern, and constraint costs remain a pressure where renewable generation cannot be moved efficiently to demand centres.
New HVDC infrastructure is only one part of the reinforcement programme. Existing routes are also being upgraded through reconductoring, dynamic line rating, substation works, and asset refurbishment. More than 1,000km of overhead lines across England and Wales are already earmarked for upgrade under a £1.2bn programme involving major transmission contractors. Western Link 2 sits alongside that approach, adding a new long-distance controllable path where existing corridors alone cannot carry the required future flows.
Public consultation will shape how the project handles visual impact, land use, construction disruption, cable routing, local supply-chain benefits, and community compensation. Underground cable sections can reduce landscape impact but bring higher cost, jointing, thermal-management, access, and repair considerations. Subsea routes can avoid some onshore impacts while introducing marine survey, installation, protection, and maintenance requirements.
Large HVDC schemes also test the supply chain. Converter stations, subsea cable systems, civil works, marine installation, testing, and grid integration all depend on specialist capacity that is in demand across Europe. Offshore wind connections, interconnectors, and transmission reinforcement are competing for many of the same equipment types and engineering teams.
The consultation stage does not settle the route or construction plan, but it begins the formal process for a project that could become a major GB transmission asset. Clean generation is being built faster than the grid was historically designed to accommodate, and the system now needs large controllable routes between generation-heavy regions and demand centres. Western Link 2 is another step in that difficult but necessary build-out.
