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This week I had the privilege of speaking in Brussels, steps from the European Parliament, among a group of speakers that included the Belgian energy minister and a member of European parliament, then participating in a panel discussion. The event was a launch of the second edition of Supergrid Super Solution: A Handbook for Energy Independence and a Europe Free from Fossil Fuels, available soon through all major book outlets.

I’m peripherally involved with the NATO-L project, a 3,600-kilometer 6 GW interconnector between Europe and North America, envisioned and being developed by Laurent Segalen, who was key to creating the Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions definitions, a cleantech investor, and host of the top ranked energy transition podcast, Redefining Energy.

Various geopolitical risks to energy security, the 2022 gas crunch in Europe, and the ensuing global energy crisis, entwined with scorching heatwaves engulfing the globe as climate change tightens its grip on energy policy, have spurred greater innovation in greening the electricity grid with subsea cables and interconnectors emerging as the go-to solution to link and interlink countries with clean power.

This trend seemingly resonates with proponents of the North Atlantic Transmission One–Link (NATO-L), which aims to deliver a 6 GW high-voltage direct current (HVDC) set of subsea cables across the Atlantic to link North America and Western Europe, forging clean energy bonds between allied nations to ensure “a secure and cost-effective source of carbon-free power.”

With a cable length of 3,500 km or 2,200 miles, the North Atlantic Transmission One-Link is said to be “the most ambitious and beautiful infrastructure project in the world,” according to proponents, who claim this development will bring green electricity to connect North America to Western Europe via Eastern Canada and the UK and Ireland to foster energy independence.

Even though the current energy market dynamics and the uncertainty looming over the proposed NATO-L project make the final bill calculation challenging, the costs will likely surpass $25 billion and stay below $60 billion. This project has a long way to go and will most likely face several hurdles during its development road, thus, the proponents think that the short-term capital will probably not be deployed at this stage.

dan_b wrote: ↑Mon Nov 04, 2024 2:15 pm The longest HVDC transmission line at the moment is the 12GW 1100kV line in China, stretching some 2100 miles from Changji to Guquan.
None of that is sub-sea though. But shows what is currently state of the art as far as HVDC is concerned.

London to New York is a 3500 mile journey by plane.