UK’s National Grid plans to invest up to $532 million (£400 million) in extending the operation of the UK-France power interconnector until at least 2050 to preserve a vital electricity flexibility link.
National Grid said on Thursday that after 40 years of operation to date, the Interconnexion France-Angleterre (IFA), the cross-border electricity link jointly owned by National Grid and French grid operator RTE, will see its life extended at least until 2050.
The investment to extend the operations is part of National Grid’s wider plans to invest at least $93 billion (£70 billion) across the Group over the five years to March 2031, the UK grid operator said.
The UK has nearly a dozen electricity connectors with northwest European countries, but IFA is Britain’s largest subsea connection by capacity and can carry enough electricity to power about 3 million British homes annually.
Since 1986, electricity has historically flowed mainly from France to Great Britain, but IFA also supports flows in the opposite direction when market conditions dictate.
In 2022, for example, electricity exported from the UK helped France during outages across its nuclear fleet. There is also regular exporting on the intraday market, reflecting the different demand patterns between Great Britain and France.
National Grid argues that Britain should preserve into the second half of the century the ability to access cheaper French nuclear generation when the price of wholesale power is high in Britain, helping to lower prices for British consumers.
National Grid analysis has found that its interconnectors have delivered $2.66 billion (£2 billion) in net benefits to British consumers since 2023, compared with traditional gas generation.
“As renewable generation grows, interconnectors can provide further opportunities to export electricity when UK supply exceeds domestic demand,” National Grid said.
Rebecca Sedler, President of NGV UK, National Grid, commented, “I’m proud to announce this new investment which will extend the operation of IFA to meet the next phase of electricity demand, from AI to electric vehicles.”
By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com
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