LONDON, April 2, 2026, 17:07 BST
National Grid plc on Thursday marked 15 years since BritNed—a 1-gigawatt subsea cable connecting Britain with the Netherlands—first went live. The anniversary coincided with the company and Dutch grid operator TenneT signing a Joint Development Agreement, pushing the LionLink project closer to a final investment decision. 1
Timing is key here. Britain, along with its North Sea neighbors, is pushing to expand cross-border power links and offshore wind hookups to boost energy security. National Grid last month projected that adjusted earnings per share would climb 13%-15% in 2027, citing a new UK regulatory period with increased allowed revenue. 2
LionLink is what the industry calls a hybrid interconnector—essentially, it’s a cable capable of moving power between countries and hooking up to offshore wind at the same time. Ofgem gave the project the green light for a pilot regulatory regime in principle in 2024, saying assets like these could make things more coordinated and efficient compared to building separate interconnectors and stand-alone offshore wind links. 3
Since coming online in 2011, BritNed has handled close to 93 terawatt hours of electricity, according to National Grid. In the last five years alone, the interconnector delivered enough power annually to supply roughly 1.4 million homes. 1
National Grid said BritNed has played its role in a broader network of interconnectors, which has saved British consumers 1.65 billion pounds over the last three years compared to relying on gas. On the Dutch side, auction revenues have reached roughly 1 billion euros in the past 15 years. Rebecca Sedler, managing director for interconnectors at National Grid, described BritNed as a “cornerstone” of the UK-Netherlands relationship. 1
Jan-Paul Dijckmans of TenneT called LionLink a project with “substantial societal benefits,” backing the Dutch Cabinet’s decision to set up an offshore electricity bidding zone for the initiative. National Grid estimated LionLink’s capacity at up to 2 GW by the early 2030s—potentially enough for 2.5 million homes. 1
This move echoes a familiar strategy in the utilities sector. Back in January, National Grid and TenneT Germany rolled out GriffinLink. Fellow operators—including SSE and Iberdrola—have been ramping up their network investments. “There’s more predictable money in networks than in renewables,” UBS analyst Gonzalo Sanchez-Bordona observed. 2
Interconnectors come with plenty of baggage: they’re slow to build, require hefty upfront investment, and can easily get tangled in regulatory red tape. Back in February, regulators from Britain and France hit the brakes on a proposed UK-France power link, citing unmet conditions and calling for a more thorough look at long-term demand and the way costs and revenues would be divided. It’s a signal that LionLink, too, is likely staring down a long stretch of approvals and construction before it goes anywhere.
