UK energy market regulator Ofgem has certified the €2.8 billion NeuConnect project, a high-voltage submarine cable that will create the first direct energy transmission link between the UK and Germany, as an Independent Transmission System Operator (TSO), a prerequisite necessary before the link becomes operational.

With converter stations on the Isle of Grain in Kent and Wilhelmshaven in northern Germany, the 725-kilometer NeuConnect interconnector is said to create an “invisible energy highway” capable of transferring 1.4 GW of electricity in either direction, enough to power 1.5 million homes.