A £200 MILLION power cable plant is to be built in the North East which will create significant jobs.

Hecate Independent Power Limited has announced the launch of the HIP Atlantic Project, being built in the North Atlantic, which will become Britain’s first captive wind farm on overseas territorial waters - Iceland - offering the UK diversity of wind source.

The scheme will create 15,000 new jobs in the UK.

It will provide an initial 2,000 MW of generation capacity.

The site’s distance from the UK means it will be able to provide power to the UK at times when British wind farms are becalmed.

Iceland will also benefit with £2.9 million investment in 2021 and up to 500 new jobs.

Fixed and floating wind turbines in the North Atlantic will be connected to the UK by long-length, high-capacity, high-voltage direct current submarine power transmission cables.

These cables are to be manufactured in the UK at a £200 million bespoke power cable plant to be built at a port in the North East of England.

HIP’s Chairman, Tony Baldry, said: “HIP Atlantic fulfils the Prime Minister’s vision of attracting investment and job creation in the North of England as part of this country’s ambitious policy to make Britain the world leader in offshore wind energy.

"We will stretch the zone of British-operated wind generation outside of our traditional territorial waters, pushing the boundaries of existing cable technology to generate over 1,000 kms from our grid landfall points throughout England.”

Each wind farm – or pod will be in a different North Atlantic location, and each pod consisting of 1,000 MW of wind turbines will have its own dedicated cable linked to the UK.

HIP’s planned offshore wind pods in the North Atlantic will all be installed in a different meteorological catchment area from current North Sea and Irish Sea wind farms.

This means renewable electricity can be supplied at times when existing British wind farms are becalmed.

This diversity of wind source provides a geographical effect to protect the UK transmission grid from too much offshore wind capacity installed in just one region.

HIP said they aim to create more long term, high value jobs across the UK than any previous wind farm connected to the National Grid.

The initial 2,000 MW capacity alone will result in the creation of 15,000 new jobs in the UK.