A new subsea power cable linking Denmark with Britain is currently running tests and is set to start trial commissioning operations on Dec. 29, with its owners initially expecting mostly exports of surplus Danish wind power to Britain.

The 1.7 billion pounds ($2.13 billion) Viking Link will run at a length of around 765 kilometres and connect Lincolnshire on England's east coast and southern Jutland in western Denmark.

At full 1,400 megawatts (MW) of capacity, it can transport enough electricity to power around 1.4 million British homes, project owners National Grid and Energinet have said.

"At the moment we are in intensive testing of the link, but we are hopeful that we will be ready by Dec. 29," said Per Obbekaer, project director for Viking Link at Danish grid operator Energinet.

These tests have seen some power flowing between the two countries in both directions since Monday, transparency data posted via energy exchange Nord Pool showed.

The commercial trial operations starting later this month will last for three months.

The interconnector will mostly transport power from Denmark to Britain initially, Obbekaer said.

"This is due to renewables making up a larger share of the power system in Denmark than in the UK, thus often lower prices which will translate to exports from Denmark to the UK," he added.

Denmark is already connected via several subsea cables to Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands, as well as onshore interconnection to Germany.

Viking Link will be National Grid's s sixth interconnector to Europe, with two connections already existing to France and one each to the Netherlands, Belgium and Norway.

In Norway, the start-up of the North Sea Link cable with Britain in late 2021 coincided with a surge in power prices, creating a backlash against electricity interconnection.

There was no similar concern in Denmark over Viking Link, Obbekaer said. ($1 = 0.7965 pounds) (Reporting by Nora Buli, editing by Terje Solsvik)