IN Brief:
- Prysmian will use La Farga Genius 100% recycled copper in Eastern Green Link 2 high-voltage cables.
- The 505km, 2GW link will connect Peterhead in Scotland with Drax in North Yorkshire.
- The specification highlights pressure to reduce embodied carbon in major infrastructure materials as grid construction accelerates.
Prysmian will use 100% recycled copper in the high-voltage direct current cables for Eastern Green Link 2, setting a lower-carbon materials benchmark for one of the UK’s largest electricity transmission projects.
The company is manufacturing and installing the cables for the 505km, 2GW link between Peterhead in north-east Scotland and Drax in North Yorkshire. Eastern Green Link 2 is being delivered as a joint venture by National Grid Electricity Transmission and SSEN Transmission.
The project will use La Farga Genius recycled copper for its cable conductors. Around 10,000 tonnes of the material will be used, supported by an Environmental Product Declaration to provide traceability of the recycled copper in the cable rods.
The use of recycled copper is expected to avoid nearly 56,675 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions compared with conventional primary copper. The material purchase has been enabled by Ofgem’s Sustainability Innovation Fund.
Eastern Green Link 2 is designed to move renewable electricity from Scotland to demand centres further south, helping relieve grid constraints and increase transmission capacity. The link forms part of a wider programme of high-voltage infrastructure required to connect offshore wind, reinforce the electricity system, and support electrification across transport, heat, industry, and digital infrastructure.
The material decision comes at a point when infrastructure procurement is becoming more exacting on embodied carbon. Copper is one of the pressure points of electrification. Transmission cables, substations, transformers, building services, EV charging networks, data centres, and industrial power systems all require large volumes of conductive material, while clients are placing greater emphasis on carbon intensity, traceability, and supply resilience.
That shift is already visible across the grid construction market. Substation extensions, cable routes, converter stations, overhead line upgrades, and local network reinforcement are moving through procurement as electricity demand rises and renewable generation connects. Projects such as the Bramford 400kV substation extension show how transmission work is becoming a larger and more visible part of the construction pipeline.
For contractors and suppliers, the EGL2 specification points to a procurement environment where verified environmental data carries more weight. Environmental Product Declarations, physical traceability, recycled content, and whole-life carbon modelling are moving from sustainability documentation into tender evaluation, client governance, and technical approval.
That change creates opportunities for materials suppliers able to prove performance, but it also increases scrutiny. Recycled content has to meet the same technical requirements as conventional material, particularly in safety-critical infrastructure. In HVDC systems, material selection cannot compromise cable performance, installation quality, thermal behaviour, or operational life.
The decision also separates two parts of the decarbonisation challenge. Eastern Green Link 2 will support lower-carbon electricity flows once energised, but the act of building the asset still carries carbon through materials, manufacturing, transport, civils, installation, and commissioning. As grid construction grows, reducing those upfront emissions becomes a larger part of the sector’s delivery responsibility.
The next test is scale. A single project can establish the technical and commercial case for recycled copper in high-voltage cables, but wider adoption will depend on supply availability, certification, price stability, and client willingness to reward lower-carbon specifications. Eastern Green Link 2 gives procurement teams a practical reference point as circular materials move into critical national infrastructure.
