'Rethink needed' over UK-to-Denmark power cable project

If approved, the Viking link would come ashore near Sutton on Sea and run via an underground cable to the National Grid station at Bicker Fen

A planned 473-mile (761km) electricity cable between Lincolnshire and Denmark should be reconsidered, a renewable energy expert has said.

Professor Brian Vad Mathiesen, of Denmark's Aalborg University, questioned the cost and feasibility.

The £1.6bn Viking Link is proposed between Bicker Fen, near Boston, and Revsing, in southern Jutland.

But a final investment decision has been postponed while partners seek "further clarity" on planning consent.

A partnership between the Danish electricity transmission company Energinet.dk and the UK's National Grid, the project includes about 40 miles (64km) of cable running underground through four Lincolnshire council districts and has been backed by Boston Borough Council.

The project would see a convertor station built at Bicker in Lincolnshire

The Danish engineer said there were doubts over when the investment would make a profit and a potential increase in greenhouse gas emissions, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

"I think it is a huge project and with the uncertainties about future fuel and electricity prices being extremely high over the next 40 years, it is worth considering whether it should even go ahead," said the professor."

He said he believed it would take up to 2040 before any profits would be made from the investment.

'Bizarre' delay

A spokesperson for Energinet described Viking Link as an "exciting feasible project with a sound economic return" and said studies had been carried out by the company and an independent consultant.

"The regulators in each country have approved the project. The approval from each regulator is based on the corresponding party's business case."

They added: "Viking Link provides the opportunity to continue the development of renewables and therefore reduce greenhouse gas emissions."

Councillor Colin Davie, at Lincolnshire County Council, said the project should have been referred to a full planning inquiry reporting to the Secretary of State.

He described the delay in the investment decision as "bizarre, bearing in mind how important it was to progress quickly when the project was first announced".

National Grid Viking Link said the scheme, which is hoped to be in place by 2022, would reduce prices and provide low carbon energy for a million households.