Major energy project moves from Suffolk to Kent

The Nautilus project would link turbines in the North Sea to the UK and Belgium via a subsea cable

Suffolk will no longer be the home of a planned major energy project connecting the UK to Belgium via a subsea cable.

Regulator Ofgem said earlier this year the Nautilus project should be built in the Suffolk, due to cost constraints.

Now it has agreed to National Grid's proposals to move the project to the Isle of Grain in Kent.

Richard Rout of Suffolk County Council said it was good news for communities in the county that Nautilus had moved, but that they would want assurances that another project would not connect in Suffolk.

The project would see converter stations at Kent and in Belgium, with an offshore converter station between the two

A different scheme, LionLink, is still planned for Suffolk after Ofgem also approved it.

Ben Wilson, president of National Grid Ventures, behind both projects, said Kent was a better location for Nautilus.

"We have always advocated for the Isle of Grain as the best location for Nautilus, given it’s already a major hub for energy infrastructure and has the potential to offer the shortest offshore cable route to Belgium," he said.

According to National Grid, Nautilus could connect up to 1.7 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind to each country through a subsea cable.

A final decision over whether it can be built will be made by the government.

If approved, it could power 1.4 million homes in the UK.

LionLink would connect the energy grid in the UK to the Netherlands via subsea cables.

Fiona Gilmore is campaigning for a fully offshore grid

The decision to move Nautilus to Kent means a convertor station planned close to Saxmundham will no longer be built.

However, LionLink would require a facility, and local campaigners have raised concerns about that and other projects in the area.

Fiona Gilmore, of Suffolk Energy Action Solutions, said a substation at Friston and nearby convertor stations would cause problems.

"We believe that Friston is the wrong place for all of these projects. They should all be going to existing pre-industrialised substation sites, " she said.

Rout, Conservative deputy cabinet member for nationally significant infrastructure projects at Suffolk County Council, said: "As a council, we have long argued that this project should connect at the Isle of Grain.

"While it's good news for communities in East Suffolk that Nautilus will now connect elsewhere, like us they will want urgent clarity that another project won’t take its connection here in Suffolk."