Japan’s Sumitomo Electric reports that it has been named by SSEN Transmission as the preferred bidder for the Shetland 2 project that will deploy 525 KV HVDC cable for a 330 km link from Shetland— an island archipelago about 160 km off the north east coast of Scotland—to the mainland.

A press release said that the cable will be made at Sumitomo’s new £350 million facility in Nigg in the north east of Scotland, which is under construction. It noted that this will be the first such cable type and technology manufactured in the U.K. The deal was crucial to Sumitomo’s decision to build the Nigg cable manufacturing facility.

Per an article in Shetland News, the announcement is a major milestone as it represents the second subsea HVDC cable between Shetland and the Scottish mainland. The first HVDC link between Shetland and Caithness on the mainland, went live last year with a capacity of 600 MW that is exported. Once the Lerwick Power Station goes into standby mode next year, Shetland as a whole will then be connected to the national grid via the cable. Van Oord Offshore Wind UK will serve as the subsea cable installation partner.

“We are delighted to reach this major milestone with Sumitomo and Van Oord for the Shetland 2 project,” said SSEN Transmission Managing Director Rob McDonald. “It’s great to see the progress being made at Sumitomo’s new cable manufacturing facility and we are extremely proud to be supporting their investment and the major boost to the Highland economy this will unlock.”

The need for a second HVDC link from Shetland to the main GB transmission system was confirmed by the independent electricity system operator National Grid ESO as part of its nationwide strategic network plan, Beyond 2030. It will make possible the connection of three ScotWind offshore wind farm sites adjacent to Shetland that will have a combined generating capacity of up to 2.8 GW. The plan will require more than £20 billion to upgrade the network infrastructure across the north of Scotland between now and 2030 as the region plays a leading role in the clean energy transition.