Aquind eyes France-UK Power Link
UK-registered construction company Aquind is taking a bet on the UK running short of electricity, with the launch of a plan to build the biggest interconnector to the UK.
It has received a connection agreement from UK National Grid to lay a bi-directional, 2-GW cable by 2021, the power transmission system operator told NGE June 14. It could not give details beyond that, but press reports say that one end of it will land at Portsmouth, carrying power to or from France. It is listed on National Grid's website as "awaiting consents."
UK power demand is running close to the system's capacity and most new initiatives to ease the problem on the supply or the demand side are being brought on in response to regulated capacity auctions. But this one appears to be speculatively built, outside the capacity mechanism, meaning its level of profitability will depend only on its actual use over its lifetime, not its availability at times of need.
Aquind directors include Martin Callanan, a Conservative life peer in the House of Lords who studied electrical engineering; and Ukrainian-born businessman, Alexander Temerko, who was once a senior executive of Russian energy company Yukos.
The UK is still awaiting a decision from EDF on whether or not it will go ahead with Hinkley Point C, which would be a new, 3.2-GW nuclear power station using technology so far untried. A spokesperson for the Department of Energy and Climate change told NGE last week that: “We are fully confident that Hinkley Point C will go ahead. Keeping the lights on is non-negotiable. The government needs to take responsible decisions on how we are going to power our country now and for the next generation.”
In a letter to UK parliament in late May, the Frency economy minister Emmanuel Macron said the chairman and CEO of EDF had decided to consult the company's central works committee on both the project and the partnership with Chinese partner CGN – a necessary step before the board decides to proceed: "It is... necessary, in the interest of all, that EDF follows due process before committing itself to an investment of this magnitude. The consultation of the central works committee brings legal robustness on the decision," he wrote.
There have been question-marks over the affordability of the £18bn project for the state-run enterprise, whose finance chief resigned earlier this year, reportedly over the issue. At the end of July, shareholders (mostly the French government) will attend an extraordinary general meeting to decide a €4bn cash injection, of which up to €3bn will come from the state.
William Powell