Following an initial round of consultation in January 2018, AQUIND has announced the launch of statutory consultation on its proposals to construct and operate an underground and marine electricity interconnector between the south coast of England and Normandy in France, to be known as AQUIND Interconnector.

AQUIND Interconnector will have capacity to transmit up to 16 000 000 MWh of electricity or approximately 5% of Great Britain’s total electricity consumption – enough to keep the lights on in up to 4 million British households.

AQUIND is undertaking consultation on its proposals between Wednesday 27 February 2019 and Monday 29 April 2019 during which time it is inviting the local community to consider the consultation documents and provide feedback on its proposals.

The consultation documents are available to view and download on the consultation website at www.aquindconsultation.co.uk.

The consultation documents will be available to view at public exhibitions in Portsmouth, Havant, East Hampshire a Winchester, the details of which are listed in the consultation newsletter.

The consultation documents are also available to view during the consultation at various deposit locations in the vicinity of the proposals between Wednesday 27 February 2019 and Monday 29 April 2019, the details of which are listed in the consultation newsletter.

Following the conclusion of the consultation, AQUIND will carefully consider all comments received before submitting an application for a Development Consent Order (DCO) to grant the rights required to build and operate AQUIND Interconnector in the UK.

Speaking about the consultation launch, a spokesperson for AQUIND said:

“Back in January 2018 we presented our initial proposals for AQUIND Interconnector to the local community and received invaluable feedback from residents and stakeholders. Since then we’ve been working hard to refine our proposals in response to the comments received.

 “We remain committed to engaging with the local community and as part of our upcoming statutory consultation we look forward to discussing our updated proposals with the local community.

 “We encourage all those with an interest in the project to take time to review the consultation materials online, at one of the deposit locations or at a public exhibition event, which provide an opportunity to discuss the proposals with members of the AQUIND project team.

“The feedback received during the consultation will assist us in further refining our plans before we submit an application for a DCO.”

If members of the public have any difficulties accessing the consultation documents, or require the documents in an alternative format, they should contact the project team via the project’s freephone information line on 01962 893869, via email at aquindconsultation@becg.com or via freepost ‘AQUIND CONSULTATION’.

Local residents and stakeholders can also get in touch to discuss the proposals with the project team using the contact details above.