Ofgem short lists five new UK interconnector projects

* Ofgem to assess project impact, value for money

* Projects could improve UK energy supply security

(Adds details, table of projects)

By Nina Chestney

LONDON, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Britain's energy market regulator Ofgem said on

Thursday it had short-listed five new electricity interconnector projects which

could be built in Britain in the next five years.

Interconnectors are transmission cables that allow electricity to flow from

one country to another. Ofgem said it will now assess the impact of the five

short-listed projects, decide whether they are likely to be in the interests of

British consumers and deliver value for money.

If approved by Ofgem, the proposed new interconnectors would connect

Britain's electricity network to France, Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) , Norway and Denmark and improve

security of energy supply. Work on some of the projects could start as early as

2016, Ofgem added.

Details about the five projects are below.

Ofgem has already assessed two other projects: ElecLink, a 1 gigawatt (GW)

electricity interconnector to France; and Nemo, a 1 GW electricity

interconnector to Belgium.

These seven schemes could lead to investment of up to 6 billion pounds

($9.60 billion) and provide up to 7.5 GW of additional electricity capacity,

according to Ofgem.

Britain is facing an electricity supply squeeze due to the moth balling of

unprofitable gas-fired power plants and the closure of ageing coal-fired units.

It currently also has over half of its total nuclear capacity offline.

Britain has an installed power capacity of around 75 gigawatts (GW), down

from more than 90 GW in 2010, reflecting the retirement of power stations.

The country was a net importer of electricity last year, government figures

show, meeting 4 percent of demand by importing power through cables linked to

continental Europe.

PROJECT NAME DEVELOPER CONNECTION DATE CONNECTION LOCATION

FAB FAB Link (and RTE) Dec. 1, 2020 Exeter and France

Greenlink Element Power TBC Pembroke and Ireland

IFA2 National Grid Oct. 31, 2019 Chilling and France

Interconnector

Holdings (and RTE)

NSN NGIH (and Statnett) Oct. 1, 2019 Blyth (NYSE: BTH - news) and Norway

Viking Link NGIH (and Oct. 31, 2020 Bicker Fen and

Energienet.dk) Denmark

(1 US dollar = 0.6252 British pound)

(Reporting by Nina Chestney; editing by Susan Thomas)