The application seeks permission to construct and operate the UK elements of AQUIND Interconnector – a new marine and underground electric power transmission link between the south of England and Normandy in France.

Once operational, AQUIND Interconnector will be capable of transmitting approximately 5% of Great Britain’s total annual electricity consumption, enough to keep the lights on in up to 5 million British households.

PINS will now undertake a six-month examination of application, which is expected to start in early 2020.

This will culminate in a recommendation to the Secretary of State, who will make the final decision in early 2021, taking into account the local impact of the proposals.

Commenting on the acceptance of the application, Richard Glasspool, director of AQUIND said:

“Following extensive consultation with the local community, we are of course pleased that our application has been accepted for examination by the Planning Inspectorate.

 “The acceptance of the application is a significant milestone for the project and we would like to thank everyone in the local community that has engaged with the project to date.

 “Our proposals have been shaped via feedback from the local community and stakeholders and we remain committed to engaging with relevant stakeholders moving forward.

 “AQUIND Interconnector will make a significant contribution to improving Great Britain’s security of electricity supply and achieving greater affordability by improving competition.

 “It will also help to integrate a greater proportion of renewable and non-fossil fuel energy sources into the Great Britan energy mix.

 

Notes to editors:

AQUIND Interconnector is a proposed High Voltage Direct Current (‘HVDC’) marine 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 five 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 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 Proposed Development is being developed and promoted by AQUIND Limited, a UK-registered company with the sole business of developing AQUIND Interconnector. AQUIND Interconnector is not associated with any UK or European utilities or national electricity transmission system operators.

In July 2018, the Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy recognised AQUIND as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project under the Planning Act 2008. AQUIND must therefore submit an application for a DCO to the Planning Inspectorate to obtain the necessary authorisation for the construction of the elements of the Project located in the UK.