UK sharing power with France
UK's National Grid has launched Britains latest high voltage direct current interconnector, IFA2. The 149-mile power cable runs across the sea bed between Portsmouth, in the UK, and Caen, in France, to share surplus clean energy between the two countries.
Over the last decade Britain's power grid is believed to have de-carbonized faster than that of any other developed country, with a 64 percent decline in carbon emissions. Interconnectors have played a critical role, and as the countrys renewable energy capacity, such as offshore wind, increases, interconnectors will allow Britain to sell its excess renewable energy to neighboring countries.
The 1,000MW IFA2 is National Grids second link to France, and is the result of an approximately $907 million investment with its partner RTE.
With the energization of IFA2, National Grid now has four operational interconnectors two to France (IFA and IFA2), one to the Netherlands (BritNed) and one to Belgium (Nemo Link). Two further projects are under construction Norway (North Sea Link) and Denmark (Viking Link).