The Danish Government has given the green light to develop an offshore interconnector between Germany and Denmark.

It will have a capacity of 400MW and is a joint project between Energinet.dk and German transmission system operator 50Hertz.

It will be the first power link between the two countries that also connects offshore wind farms – Denmark’s Kriegers Flack and Germany’s Baltic 1 and Baltic 2.

Torben Glar Nielsen, Executive Vice President, CTO, at Energinet.dk said: “The approval is important and helps create the future cross-border electricity market, where much more electricity must be traded back and forth across borders.

“On the one hand, Danish power stations and wind turbine owners can sell more electricity to German consumers and make a profit on it. On the other hand, Danish consumers can buy electricity in Germany, for example when the wind is not blowing and the wind turbines are not spinning. This makes the green transition less expensive and more effective.”

The European Commission is providing €150 million (£116m) for the project, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2018.