National Grid has submitted its application to the government for a giant ‘green’ energy station next to the Kent coastline.

Sea Link is one of several projects forming part of The Great Grid Upgrade - the largest overhaul of the electricity grid in generations, aimed at boosting and distributing homegrown power and helping the UK switch to clean energy.

It has been designed to link the Kent and Suffolk coasts with a 138km undersea high-voltage cable to carry renewable and low-carbon power to homes, businesses and public services across the south east.

A landfall point has been identified at Pegwell Bay, near Ramsgate, which will involve laying an underground cable more than 2km long to the site of new converter and substations to be built on Minster Marshes.

Running mostly offshore, the cable will travel to a point on the Suffolk coast between Aldeburgh and Thorpeness.

The buildings, up to 28 metres high, and infrastructure will span an area equivalent to 22 football pitches, as well as a forest of towering new pylons.

Now, more than two years after proposing the scheme, National Grid has submitted its application for development consent for the controversial project.

This is the process of obtaining permission, through a Development Consent Order (DCO), from the Secretary of State after an application is examined by the Planning Inspectorate rather than the local authority.

Sea Link's project director, Adrian Pierssene, said: "Sea Link is a vital investment in Great Britain’s energy future, creating the extra capacity needed to integrate renewable power into the grid, boosting energy security and supporting a cleaner electricity network.

“We have listened to and considered all the feedback we have received, shaping the plans we are submitting as a result."

The divisive scheme has created anger amongst hundreds of residents and groups, however.

Minster Marshes is a vital wildlife habitat and is next to a designated nature reserve, supporting a huge variety of endangered birds and mammals which objectors say will be decimated by the construction work and subsequent buildings.

During a public consultation, which ended in December 2023, National Grid received more than 2,000 objections, including from Kent Wildlife Trust, The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the Council for the Protection of Rural England (Kent).

North Thanet MP Sir Roger Gale previously branded National Grid “arrogant” and insisted the scheme “represents an act of potential environmental vandalism on a massive scale”.

Also concerned is the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, which fears less damaging route options have been “too easily discarded”, at the expense of designated wildlife sites.

In the charity’s 25-page response to the public consultation, which also covers the National Grid’s plans in Suffolk, its conservation officers say they are “extremely concerned” about the serious threat the developments pose for protected wildlife sites.

Objectors also accuse National Grid of not adequately investigating alternative sites and claim the company has chosen the cheapest option “at the expense of the environment”.

It has led to the London-based company carrying out a host of proposed changes to the project.

These include alterations to access routes and mitigation areas in attempts to reduce environmental impacts and archaeological concerns.

Another big amendment features the removal of a large compound area west of the A256 and replacing it with several smaller compound areas, alongside the removal of a separate compound next to Sandwich Road which is proposed closer to the A299.

National Grid also insisted Pegwell Bay and Minster Marshes are the only viable locations for the Kent element of its Sea Link scheme and that it will work to mitigate the impact on wildlife.

Bosses discounted the nearby Richborough Energy Park and Kingsnorth near Ashford for a variety of reasons including “economic, technical, and environmental factors”. They also say there are no suitable brownfield sites.

Whatever the inspectorate recommends, it will be the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband, who will ultimately make the decision on Sea Link.

If approved, construction work is expected to start in 2026.