Sian Crampsie

The first electricity link between Belgium and the UK will start operating at the end of January, its developers say.

UK network firm National Grid and its Belgian counterpart, Elia, have announced that capacity on the Nemo link interconnector will be available to purchase for delivery on 31st January, 2019.

The announcement follows a successful testing period with active power transfers taking place between Belgium and the UK via the 400 kV, 1000 MW link, the two companies said.

The Nemo link consists of subsea and underground cables running from Richborough in Kent, south-east England, to Herdersbrug in Bruges, Belgium.

Commissioning of the £600 million, 140 km-long HVDC link began in mid-December. Nemo is an EU Project of Common Interest (PCI) and will play an important role in the creation of an integrated European energy market.