The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (‘BEIS’) has today (Monday 30^th July 2018) announced that AQUIND Interconnector is to be treated as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project.

The Rt Hon Greg Clark MP, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, issued the direction for AQUIND Interconnector – a new subsea and underground High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) electric power transmission link between the South Coast of England and Normandy in France – to be treated as development for which development consent is required.

To build the project, AQUIND will apply to the Secretary of State via the Planning Inspectorate (‘PINS’) for a Development Consent Order (‘DCO’) under the Planning Act 2008.

AQUIND has said that it anticipates an application for development consent will be submitted in 2019, after it has carried out further technical studies together with pre-application consultation with the local community, affected landowners and other relevant stakeholders.

Once submitted, the Planning Inspectorate will examine AQUIND’s DCO application before the Secretary of State makes a decision on whether authorisation should be given for the project.

Responding to the news, a spokesperson for AQUIND said:

“The DCO planning process is well-suited to the development of AQUIND Interconnector given the project’s potential to deliver significant national benefits for Great Britain, including more competition in energy markets, lower carbon dioxide emissions, greater integration of renewable energy sources and greater security of supply. It can also provide valuable ancillary services to the electric power grid.

“AQUIND would like to stress that the key parameters of the proposal remain unchanged, irrespective of the consenting regime – the onshore cable will be fully underground, whilst the converter station will remain as the only planned visible element.

“It is important to AQUIND that its scheme is shaped by local feedback. The development consent process places significant weight on the role of pre-application consultation, which will ensure all relevant stakeholders remain involved throughout the consultation process.

“Having built on the feedback received during our consultation in early 2018, AQUIND is looking forward to continued engagement with the local community and all relevant stakeholders in shaping the proposals.”

Earlier in 2018, AQUIND Interconnector was awarded Project of Common Interest (PCI) status by the European Commission. PCIs are key European energy infrastructure projects that address the three challenges of the European energy policy: affordability, security of supply and decarbonisation.

Further information about AQUIND Interconnector is available at www.aquind.co.uk and www.aquindconsultation.co.uk.

 

 

Notes to editors:

AQUIND Interconnector is a proposed High Voltage Direct Current (‘HVDC’) subsea and underground electric power transmission link between the south of England and Normandy in France, with the capacity to transmit up to 2,000 MW of electricity between the France and Great Britain (‘GB’) net of transmission losses.

It is estimated that AQUIND Interconnector will have sufficient capacity to transmit up to 16,000,000 MWh of electricity annually between GB and France, accounting for approximately 5% and 3% of their respective total electricity consumption and enough to keep the lights on in up to four million British households.

AQUIND Interconnector will make a significant contribution to improving GB’s security of electricity supply and achieving greater affordability by improving competition, making the GB energy market more efficient and enabling greater energy flexibility. This should ultimately benefit consumers via increased access to lower prices due to competitive pressures on domestic energy generators.

AQUIND Interconnector will help to integrate a greater proportion of nonfossil fuel energy sources and intermittent renewables generation into the GB energy mix. It is also expected that electricity imported from France will have much lower CO2 intensity. This will reduce reliance on fossil fuel power generation plants and in turn reduce GB’s CO2 emissions from the burning of such fuels. AQUIND Interconnector will therefore make a significant contribution to the decarbonisation of the GB electricity grid and meeting the net UK carbon reduction targets by the year 2050, set in accordance with Section 1 of the Climate Change Act 2008.

The project is being developed and promoted by AQUIND Limited, a UK-registered company with the sole business of developing AQUIND Interconnector. AQUIND is not associated with any UK or European utilities or national electricity transmission system operators. AQUIND Interconnector is being developed as a private project without government subsidies.

More information about the Planning Inspectorate and the Planning Act 2008 is available online at https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk or by calling the Planning Inspectorate on 0303 444 5000.