The British power transmission system operator (TSO) National Grid and the UK power groups SSE and ScottishPower plan to build the 4 GW Eastern Link project, which will comprise 2 GW high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cables from the east coast of Scotland to two points in the north-east of England, Selby and Hawthorn Point (United Kingdom). The east coast of Scotland already has nearly 1 GW of offshore wind parks in operation; another 4.4 GW is in the pipeline and up to 10 GW could be developed in the wake of the next Scottish offshore wind leasing round (ScotWind). Construction of the HVDC lines is expected to start in 2024.
In June 2020, Crown Estate Scotland initiated a new round of offshore wind leasing in Scotland, targeting up to 10 GW and intending to attract £8bn (€8.9bn) of new investments. In October 2020, the Scottish government raised its target for offshore wind power capacity by 2030 from 8 GW to 11 GW. Scotland has currently 5.6 GW of consented offshore capacity, of which 1 GW is operational.