IN Brief:
- The Secretary of State has approved a variation to LionLink’s existing Section 35 direction under the Planning Act 2008.
- LionLink is planned as an electricity link of up to 2GW combining UK to Netherlands interconnection with connection to Dutch offshore wind.
- National Grid now expects to submit its development consent application in the first half of 2027, with operation targeted for 2032.
The Secretary of State has approved a variation to the planning direction covering LionLink, keeping the proposed UK to Netherlands electricity project within the nationally significant infrastructure planning regime as National Grid prepares its development consent application.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero published the decision on 7 October after National Grid Lion Link Limited requested changes to the Section 35 direction originally granted in August 2022. The ministerial decision was made on 2 October and relates to the British planning route rather than approval to construct the project.
Section 35 of the Planning Act allows the Secretary of State to direct certain infrastructure into the Development Consent Order process even where it does not automatically meet the statutory definition of a nationally significant infrastructure project. LionLink uses that route because its offshore hybrid configuration combines an interconnector with a link to offshore wind infrastructure.
National Grid plans LionLink as an electricity connection of up to 2GW between Great Britain and the Netherlands. The project would also connect to a Dutch offshore wind platform, allowing the same offshore transmission system to carry renewable generation towards shore and exchange electricity between the British and Dutch systems.
A conventional interconnector links two national electricity systems, while a conventional offshore wind connection carries generation from a wind farm into one national grid. LionLink combines both functions. The shared infrastructure can reduce the need for separate cable systems, but it creates more complicated electrical, market, protection, control, and regulatory interfaces.
Power flows would change according to offshore generation, market conditions, and system requirements on each side of the North Sea. High voltage direct current technology is suited to large transfers over long subsea distances because it avoids the charging current associated with long alternating current cables. Converter stations are still required at the interfaces with the alternating current transmission systems.
On the British side, National Grid’s current proposal includes subsea direct current cables to the Suffolk coast, underground direct current cables between the landfall and a converter station, and alternating current cables between the converter station and the transmission connection. The converter station changes electricity between direct current used for the long subsea link and alternating current used by the national grid.
The project design has continued to change as engineering and environmental work progresses. National Grid completed a targeted consultation in August on several local refinements, including changes to the landfall, project boundaries, construction access, and Saturday working hours. The company is now reviewing that feedback before finalising the application.
Kiln Lane Substation is one of the main interface changes. ScottishPower Renewables has confirmed that it will deliver the substation through the East Anglia ONE North and East Anglia TWO projects, so LionLink now intends to seek consent only for the extension needed for its connection rather than construct the full substation itself.
Removing the full Kiln Lane build from LionLink reduces its physical scope but increases reliance on separately delivered infrastructure. Electrical ratings, protection, control, construction sequencing, access, and commissioning responsibilities must align between the two programmes. A delay or design change at the shared substation could affect the interconnector even if LionLink’s own cable and converter work remains on programme.
National Grid has also moved the planned Development Consent Order submission into the first half of 2027. The company expects examination to follow and currently anticipates a decision in 2028. If consent and investment approvals are secured, construction could then run from 2028 to 2032, with operation beginning in 2032.
The planning variation does not settle LionLink’s commercial or regulatory arrangements. Electricity moving through the asset could represent cross border trading, export from connected offshore wind generation, or a combination of both at different times. Capacity allocation, charging, congestion management, and market rules therefore have to accommodate infrastructure performing more than one function.
Protection and control also become more complex because the link connects several electrical environments. Converter controls must regulate power flow while remaining within the operating limits of both national systems, and protection schemes must isolate faults without removing more healthy capacity than necessary. Offshore generation adds another variable input that can change the direction and magnitude of power moving through the asset.
The shared model can still reduce duplicated infrastructure where one offshore route performs functions that would otherwise require separate wind export cables and an interconnector. The engineering benefit depends on those functions being coordinated without creating unacceptable operational constraints at the converter stations, offshore connection, or onshore transmission interfaces.
The Section 35 variation keeps the British elements of LionLink within the Development Consent Order process while National Grid finishes that design work. It does not authorise construction, but it preserves the planning route needed for the up to 2GW link to move into formal examination once the application is submitted in 2027.
