The British power transmission system operator (TSO) National Grid has commissioned the 1,000 MW Interconnexion France-Angleterre (IFA2) HVDC link project, which entered construction in 2018. The project operates a ± 320 kV DC cable system and includes an offshore section between Portsmouth (Hampshire) in the United Kingdom and Caen (Normandy) in France. The two high-voltage direct current HVDC light converter stations, the submarine and land power cables were designed and manufactured by Prysmian and ABB. The project is the result of a £700m (€773m) investment, shared between National Grid and RTE. The project is expected to deliver 1.2% of Britain's electricity needs, enough to power up to 1 million households, saving 1.2 MtCO2 in its first year of operation.
National Grid now has four operational interconnection lines, two to France (IFA and IFA2), one to the Netherlands (BritNed) and one to Belgium (Nemo Link). Two other projects are under construction, namely with Norway (North Sea Link, operational 2021) and Denmark (Viking Link, operational 2023).