§ Dr. CableTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the likely cost of undersea cables to take power from northern Scotland to southern England, down the west and east coasts; and if she will make a statement. [88663]
§ Mr. WilsonThe Department commissioned a high level feasibility study into the possibility of building a subsea cable to transfer electricity generated in Scotland down the west coast to markets in the south. The report, which was published in February and is available on the DTI website: www.dti.gov.uk, includes capital costings for different systems and costs will be dependent of course on the length of the cable and its capacity. For illustrative purposes, the report concludes that the capital costs of an HVDC link capable of transferring 2000 MW of electricity would range from £790 million for a 200 km cable to £1,700 million for a 700 km cable.
The report is a useful contribution to the important debate on the best way of transmitting renewable energy generated in Scotland to centres of demand in the south.