National Grid has appointed Bam UK & Ireland, the UK and Ireland arm of Dutch construction group Royal BAM, to deliver the southern converter station works for Eastern Green Link 3, a proposed 2GW HVDC link between Peterhead and Walpole, as reported by New Civil Engineer. The award gives Bam civil engineering roles at both ends of a link billed as the UK’s largest electricity transmission project.

Bam’s work will cover building the converter station in England, where the link’s 436km of subsea HVDC cable comes ashore north of Anderby Creek on the Lincolnshire coast, according to The Energyst. About 5km of underground HVAC cable will then connect the station to the proposed 400kV Walpole B substation.

Bam also holds the early contractor involvement contract for the northern converter station near Peterhead, covering design and constructability support, with a follow-on detailed design and construction contract due in 2027, as reported by Construction News.

Hitachi Energy will deliver the HVDC converter stations and NKT will supply the subsea and underground cable, in contracts worth almost £3 billion for a 690km link, as stated by National Grid.

EGL3 project director Mark Brackley said: “Awarding this contract is an important step forward for Eastern Green Link 3 and the wider programme of network investment taking place across Great Britain.”

Brackley added: “By increasing capacity between Scotland and England, EGL3 will help reduce constraints on the electricity network, allowing more renewable power to be transported from where it is generated to where it is needed.”

Huw Jones, Bam UK & Ireland executive director for infrastructure, said: “We’re not just building energy infrastructure. We’re building the connections that will power Britain’s future.”

Jones added that with Bam on civil engineering works at both ends of EGL3 and on EGL2, “we’re helping transform Britain’s electricity network and turn the UK’s clean energy ambitions into reality.”

The structural driver is rapidly expanding offshore wind capacity, which is prompting several major transmission projects, with EGL1 and EGL2 already under construction.

Planning in principle is in place for the Scottish converter site, a formal planning application for the English works is expected later this year, construction is due to start in 2028 and the link is forecast to be energised in 2033, subject to consent.

For the sector, the award places one contractor on civil works at both converter station sites of the link.