Private project developer Aquind (led by Ukrainian businessman Alexander Temerko) has been granted an interconnection licence from the British energy regulator Ofgem to develop its 240 km-long power interconnection project between Lovedean, near to Portsmouth in the United Kingdom (UK) to the Le Havre area, Normandy, France.
The £1.1bn project (€1.3bn) would have a capacity of 2 GW and could come online as soon as 2021. The project has already secured a connection agreement with the British transmission network operator National Grid and is in the process of securing a connection agreement with French transmission network operator RTE.
The UK and France are already connected through a 2 GW interconnection line that was commissioned in 1986. In addition, other interconnection projects are planned: a 1 GW line, ElecLink, that would be laid in the service tunnel of the Folkestone-Calais Eurotunnel and could be commissioned in late 2017, and a 1 GW HVDC line, IFA2, between Normandy (France) and England, expected in 2020. The 1.4 GW France Alderney Britain Link (FABLink) line could connect Menuel (France) and Exeter (UK) through Alderney/Aurigny (Channel Islands) by 2022.