Interconnector upgrade

News

National Grid and RTE are to invest €70m into upgrading the electric interconnector which links the UK and France.

National Grid and RTE, the UK transmission system operator and its French counterpart, are to invest €70m into upgrading the electric interconnector which links the two countries.

The investment will mainly be used to replace high-voltage equipment dating back to 1986, the year when the interconnector began operation. It is used to convert the alternating current circulating on the two power grids into the direct current that is sent across the undersea cables that make up the cross channel link.

The existing equipment is installed at the converter stations at the National Grid site in Sellindge near Folkestone and the RTE site at Les Mandarins, near Calais.

Following a competitive tendering process, RTE and National Grid awarded the contract for replacing the equipment to Areva, which will complete the installation by 2011.

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