The AQUIND electricity interconnector project today takes a major step forward with the approval from the National Commission for Public Debate (French CNDP: Commission Nationale du Débat Public) on the calendar, process and modalities of public consultations.

AQUIND Interconnector, which has been included into the third pan-European PCI (Project of Common Interest) list recognising its added value to European supply of electricity, plans a subsea and underground High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) electric power transmission link between Lovedean in Hampshire (England) and Barnabos in Normandy (France).

The AQUIND Interconnector project is being developed without any government subsidies.

AQUIND Interconnector will allow the transmission of  up to 16,000,000 MWh of electricity each year between the two countries, accounting for 5% and 3% of the total consumption of Great Britain and France respectively. The interconnector will help to achieve the goals of affordability, sustainability and the security of energy supply .

The underground and subsea cables will connect two new converter stations on both sides of La Manche which will convert electricity from Direct Current (DC) to Alternating Current (AC) and back. The converter stations will be connected with AC cables to already existing 400 kV substations, operated by National Grid in GB and RTE in France.

After the CNDP referral in October 2017 Aquind and RTE have worked with the garant appointed by the commission to prepare a consultation document, to define the best schedule and method of consultation. This document was studied at the plenary session of the CNDP on 7 February 2018.

The decision unveiled today by the CNDP validates the procedure submitted by AQUIND and French Transmission System Operator, RTE. “This project will support the ambition of building the integrated European energy market in which families and firms get the best value for their money, while improving the security of supply and enabling the greater integration of renewable energy sources in the connected systems.”, Managing Director Kirill Glukhovskoy said.

AQUIND team would like to express our gratitude to RTE and garant Monsieur Laurent Demolins for support and advice throughout the process and look forward to further cooperation during the consultation process.

The public consultations will accordingly be held from March 19^th, 2018 until May 4^th, 2018. More information about the public consultation will be published shortly at https://aquindconsultation.fr/

About AQUIND

AQUIND is a UK-registered company and its sole business is the development of AQUIND Interconnector. AQUIND is not associated with any UK or European utilities and the project is currently being developed without government subsidies. For further information about AQUIND, please visit www.aquind.fr