Health-and-safety specialists Steel River Consultants (SRC) have been selected to provide technical support for a project to construct an electricity link between the UK and Norway.

The company will act as hazard identification (HAZID) facilitator and provide CDM support and health and safety advisory services to cable supplier Prysmian.

The North Sea Link (NSL) project, a project owned 50 per cent each by National Grid and Statnett, will be the first direct electricity connection between the UK and Norway.

At more than 720 kilometres cable route, it will be the world’s longest interconnector running from Blyth, in Northumberland, to Kvilldal, in Rogaland, on the Norwegian side.

Prysmian has been awarded a contract to design, fabricate and install 2 x 470km of sub-sea cables and 2 x 2km of onshore cables which will be manufactured at the group’s factory in Naples and installed using its cable laying vessel the Giulio Verne.

The interconnector will be installed by the end of 2021 and will allow Britain to import and export up to 1,400MW of electricity, enough to meet the annual power needs of almost a million homes.

Chris Lawson, SRC’s regional manager said: “We are delighted to have been appointed by Prysmian and take great pride in working on such an exciting and important energy project.”