Yahoo Finance Cross-channel electricity link between UK and France opens
A new undersea electricity link between England and France has become fully operational.
The cross-channel high-voltage connection will deliver 1.2% of Britain's electricity needs, National Grid (NG.L) said.
National Grid said that the interconnector known as IFA2, stretches 149 miles along the seafloor between Hampshire and Normandy, and began to flow at full capacity at 11am GMT.
The IFA2 interconnector has the capacity to power 1 million homes in Britain, according to the company. It also has the potential to reduce wholesale electricity prices in the UK by 2%.
IFA2 will also help reduce the use of fossil fuels in the UK by importing electricity generated by France’s nuclear power plants.
The 1GW (gigawatts) connection — a £700m ($956m) shared investment with French power company Reseau de Transport d'Electricite (RTE )— is Britain's fourth power exchange with Europe.
The energy imports could help prevent 1.2 million tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere, in its first year of operation. This enables the UK to sell any leftover clean power from its fleet of wind turbines.
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There are currently five active interconnectors in the UK, including continental networks to France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
The first interconnector, with a 2GW capacity opened in 1986, the IFA link between England and France, then Moyle — which imports power between Northern Ireland and Scotland with a 0.5GW capacity opened in 2001.
In 2011, BritNed opened linking Britain and the Netherlands with a 1GW capacity. This was followed by EWIC, connecting Wales and Ireland in 2012 (0.5GW), Nemo tying England to Belgium in 2019 (1GW).
The UK’s gas and electricity regulator Ofgem has said there are plans for another 10 interconnectors, which could bring capacity to almost 18GW by 2023.
Jon Butterworth, managing director of National Grid Ventures, said the two-way interconnector would typically import cheaper nuclear and renewable electricity from France at first.
He said: "IFA2 is the latest feat of world-class engineering helping to transform and decarbonise the electricity systems of Britain and its European neighbours."
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