HVDC Networks Come to Europe

The days are numbered for the Lerwick Power Station, whose diesel generators have supplied electricity to the Shetland Islands for over 70 years. Starting around the middle of 2024, the Shetlands—and also part of mainland Scotland—will be powered by the 443-megawatt Viking wind farm, consisting of 103 wind turbines on the main island of Shetland.

But what’s most interesting about the mammoth, £580 million project isn’t so much the turbines as the subsea transmission link that will connect the wind farm to the Scottish mainland. Peak demand in the Shetlands is only about 44 MW,…