Government grants consent for 2GW Sea Link cable between Suffolk and Kent

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) granted development consent on Friday 30 October 2026 for Sea Link, National Grid's 2GW undersea electricity connection between Suffolk and Kent.

The Planning Inspectorate's register records that the Secretary of State decided to grant consent on 30 October and that the project has moved to the post-decision stage. The register names the applicant as National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) Plc.

According to DESNZ, the link will be able to carry enough electricity to power the equivalent of 2 million homes. The department said it would ease pressure on the grid and reduce the need to pay generators to switch off when the network cannot carry their electricity.

Energy Minister Michael Shanks said: "By rewiring Britain we get homegrown power to where it's needed, we make sure the grid is resilient for the future and we bring bills down for good."

The scheme

The Planning Inspectorate's project description sets out a new converter station within 5km of the proposed Friston substation in Suffolk, connected by high voltage alternating current (HVAC) underground cables.

From there, a high voltage direct current (HVDC) offshore cable of about 130km will run to the Kent coast at Pegwell Bay. Suffolk County Council's project page says the Suffolk landfall is proposed between Thorpeness and Aldeburgh.

In Kent, a second converter station will be built within 5km of the existing Richborough substation, with an HVAC connection of about 1km made directly onto the overhead line, according to the Planning Inspectorate.

DESNZ describes the scheme as a transmission connection running primarily offshore. Ofgem's project assessment describes it as a new 2GW HVDC link with converter stations at Saxmundham and Minster, intended to increase transfer capability between East Anglia and the South East.

Community funds

DESNZ said National Grid would deliver the government's community benefits scheme for the project, with more than £1m each for community funds in Kent and Suffolk.

Suffolk County Council's page records that, after the 2023 statutory consultation, the council wrote to National Grid, DESNZ and the ESO about coordinating projects in Suffolk promoted by subsidiaries of National Grid Group.

Funding at Ofgem

Planning consent is one of two tracks the project has been following. Ofgem has been assessing Sea Link under its Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment (ASTI) mechanism within the RIIO-3 price control framework, with a consultation on its project assessment that ran during September 2026.

The regulator has already approved Early Construction Funding for the scheme, which carries the NOA code SCD1, under NGET's transmission licence. Its consultation on that funding was published on 24 July 2025 and closed on 22 August 2025.

In November 2025 Ofgem described Sea Link as a proposed NGET project to reinforce the transmission network between Suffolk and Kent, saying it would reduce constraints on the heavily used east coast network. Ofgem said NESO estimated that failing to accelerate Sea Link to 2030 could cost consumers between £1.1bn and £1.4bn a year in constraint costs.

Beatrice Filkin, Ofgem's Director of Major Projects, said at the time: "Today's decision means that we'll be able to power more homes with homegrown clean power faster."

Ofgem said it was not handing projects blank cheques nor greenlighting the projects themselves, as those decisions rested with planning authorities. It said the ASTI framework was designed to fast-track its assessment of 26 strategically important transmission projects.

Wider approvals

DESNZ said the Sea Link decision followed its approval of two solar farms: Great North Road Solar and Biodiversity Park near Newark in Nottinghamshire, with a generating capacity of 800MW, and Frodsham Solar in Cheshire, which will combine solar panels with battery storage.

The department said the approval built on the Prime Minister's announcement of the Great British Grid, a publicly owned body within Great British Energy intended to bring together public and private investment to speed up network upgrades.

According to DESNZ, the day's decisions bring the number of nationally significant clean energy projects approved by the government since July 2024 to 39.