ScottishPower completes subsea cable duct installation for £4bn East Anglia TWO
Two near-1,800-metre ducts have been installed beneath the Suffolk coastline and seabed to carry export cables for the 960MW offshore wind farm.
By Energy desk · 15 Oct 2026 · Suffolk coast
ScottishPower Renewables (SPR) has completed a subsea drilling and duct pull-in operation at its £4 billion East Anglia TWO offshore wind farm, ahead of the first export cable installation expected in summer 2027.
The two ducts will provide a protected pathway for the 960MW project’s high-voltage export cables. SPR said they are the world’s longest continuous single sections of extruded polyethylene.
At just under 1,800 metres long and 800mm in diameter, the ducts also form what the company describes as the UK’s largest electricity transmission landfall of its kind, based on the combination of those dimensions.
The installation was carried out beneath the Suffolk coastline and seabed using horizontal directional drilling (HDD), with rigs working onshore and offshore simultaneously. The technique creates an underground bore without digging up beaches, dunes, cliffs or coastal habitats.
The works form part of the East Anglia TWO civil engineering programme being delivered by principal contractor OCU Group, supported by its subsidiary Peter McCormack & Sons. The contract is supporting more than 80 jobs during construction.
Pipelife manufactured the ducts, including a 1,793-metre pipe — the longest produced by Pipelife Norway. That pipe was towed from Stathelle in Norway to Thorpeness in England.
Ross Ovens, SPR’s managing director for offshore, said: “The completion of this colossal horizontal directional drilling (HDD), which is three times the length of our other East Anglia projects, is a huge achievement - quite literally - and a major milestone as we progress construction of our third wind farm in the region.”
He added: “Our priority is always to deliver our clean energy projects, and all the benefits they bring, in a responsible and sensitive way that is mindful of the environment and the people around us.”
East Anglia TWO is working towards commercial operation in late 2028. The wind farm will be located in the southern North Sea, around 33km from the Suffolk coast at its nearest point off Southwold and 37km from Lowestoft.
SPR said the project has injected more than £1.5 billion into the UK supply chain to date.