The high voltage power cable - billed as an 'electricity superhighway' - will connect Peterhead in Aberdeenshire to Drax in North Yorkshire when it is completed in 2029. It is part of the efforts needed to ensure that not only are wind farms built but they are also connected to the towns and cities which need their electricity.
1 billion, in part because of the money saved by not having to pay wind farms to stand idle. The 2 gigawatt cable approved on Wednesday will run mainly on the bottom of the North Sea, but around 70 kilometres of it will be buried underground. A report from the Electricity Systems Operator, which runs the grid, last week claimed that £58 billion of additional grid investments would be needed in the first half of the 2030s.