Project chiefs from National Grid and SSEN Transmission joined contractors at either end of the planned subsea link in Peterhead in Scotland and Wren Hall in Drax, near Selby in North Yorkshire.

Hitachi Energy and BAM are responsible for the supply of big converter stations at either end of the 2GW subsea electricity link.

After travelling 436km under the sea from Peterhead, EGL2’s subsea cable will come ashore on the East Yorkshire coast at Fraisthorpe Sands and then run underground for 68km to a new high voltage current converter station at Drax.

EGL2 is just the first of four currently proposed 2GW projects between Scotland and England to begin construction that are planned to provide enough renewable electricity to power eight million homes.

Akshay Kaul, Ofgem Director General for Infrastructure Group, said: “This is a historic occasion. Not only is construction starting on EGL2, Britain’s biggest ever electricity transmission project, but we’re also standing here two years earlier than we might have been thanks to Ofgem’s fast-track new process which cuts red tape to get consumers across the country connected to renewable energy more quickly.

“Harnessing homegrown clean energy will help build a secure energy future for Britain, and projects like EGL2 are pivotal in our move towards that.

“This is the first project to successfully complete our new process and many more major energy projects are going through this fast-track pipeline.”

The project is expected to be operational in 2029.