The European Union (EU) has agreed to back a 650km electricity connection project between Scotland and Norway.

A total of €10 million is being allocated to support the £1.3 billion development, which will see an HVDC interconnector built between Boddam in Aberdeenshire and Eidfjord in Norway.

The funding has been provided by the Connecting Europe Facility, the EU's funding support programme for infrastructure.

Richard Blanchfield, Deputy Project Manager of developer NorthConnect, said: "The decision demonstrates that the European Union considers the NorthConnect Project important to achieving the strategic goals of increasing security of energy supply, and contributing to sustainable development by integrating renewable energy sources across the European Union."

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Tommy Løvstad, Chief Executive Officer and Project Manager, added: "This is a huge milestone for the project, everyone on the team is very pleased. We look forward to further co-operation with INEA and the Connecting Europe Facility. Being selected to receive funding from the EU is a very positive boost to the project's momentum, and will give the project owners important support in the challenging development environment."

WWF Scotland director Lang Banks added: "If Scotland and the rest of Europe are to move to a 100 per cent renewable future then greater use of interconnectors is an essential part of that future. Greater interconnection brings the double benefits of ensuring security of supply and removing the need to build lots of expensive new nuclear or fossil fuel power stations.

"Sharing different renewable resources between nations allows us to fulfil our renewable energy potential and drive down climate emissions across northern Europe, much more effectively than relying on domestic action alone.

"The Scottish Government has set out welcome plans to meet half of our energy needs from renewable sources by 2030. This announcement reinforces Scotland's position at the leading edge of the renewable electricity transformation occurring across Europe."

(LM/MH)