Nemo Link Limited

Nemo Link Limited is the project company and licensed interconnector owner and operator behind the Nemo Link electricity interconnector between Great Britain and Belgium. Incorporated in 2012 and classified in the UK under SIC code 35120 (transmission of electricity), it is a 50:50 joint venture between National Grid Interconnector Holdings Limited, a subsidiary of the UK’s National Grid plc, and the Belgian Elia group, Belgium’s high‑voltage transmission system operator. Nemo Link is regulated jointly by Ofgem in Great Britain and CREG in Belgium and is the first interconnector to operate under Ofgem’s cap and floor regulatory regime. The Nemo Link asset is a 1,000 MW high‑voltage direct current (HVDC) interconnector between Zeebrugge in Belgium and Richborough in Kent, Great Britain. It consists of around 140 km of subsea and underground cables and a converter station and substation in each country, enabling bidirectional power flows between the two transmission systems. Design features and cooling system redundancy allow short‑term operation above the nominal rating, with a dynamic overload facility that can raise Maximum Physical Transfer Capacity to 1,032 MW from Belgium to Great Britain for defined periods. Nemo Link enables physical electricity trading between the GB and Belgian power markets through long‑term, day‑ahead and intraday capacity products. Capacity up to around 1,000 MW is allocated via explicit auctions on the Joint Allocation Office’s platforms and via implicit day‑ahead coupling under the Single Day‑Ahead Market Coupling mechanism, with nominations handled through the Regional Nomination Platform. Operationally, Nemo Link focuses on high availability, grid reliability and facilitating access to sustainable generation and intermittent renewables. Commercial operations began in early 2019 and the interconnector has since maintained availability of around 99–99.5% outside planned maintenance, transporting nearly 30 TWh of electricity by its fifth anniversary and delivering strong congestion‑based revenues. Under the cap and floor regime, Nemo Link’s above‑cap earnings are shared with GB and Belgian consumers and are expected to return more than €200 million over its first five years, reducing grid tariffs in both countries. The company runs annual major maintenance outages at its converter stations in the UK and Belgium, supported by an enterprise asset management system used to coordinate preventive and corrective work and manage health, safety and contractor activities. Nemo Link also engages actively with market participants and policymakers through consultations on access rules, intraday product design and wider topics such as EU carbon border adjustment and future GB‑EU market coupling arrangements, positioning the interconnector as an important enabler of the European energy transition.