Public consultation on future electricity interconnectors between France and the United Kingdom
News Electricity
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CRE is publishing a public consultation to ask stakeholders about the opportunity to increase interconnection capacity between France and the United Kingdom. While three electricity interconnectors are in service between France and the United Kingdom (IFA, 2,000 MW, IFA2, 1,000 MW and Eleclink 1,00MW), four projects for new interconnectors are currently under study: Aquind with a capacity of 2,000 MW, FAB with a capacity of 1,250 MW, Gridlink with a capacity of 1,250 MW, and a new project with a capacity of 1,000 MW led by Getlink.
CRE has carried out a cost-benefit study which shows that, under certain conditions, a new interconnector project with a capacity of around 1 GW between France and the United Kingdom could be economically profitable on a European scale.
However, this study highlights an unbalanced distribution of the forecast benefits, which are higher for the United Kingdom than for France. This result will constrain the distribution of project costs between the two countries.
Furthermore, RTE has carried out a detailed comparison of the four projects, enabling them to be ranked in order of interest. CRE considers this ranking to be relevant. However, the pursuit of any project will require the approval of the UK regulator, Ofgem.
Interested parties are invited to respond to this public consultation by 19 April 2024 at the latest.
