Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what plans her Department has to support electricity grid interconnections between the UK and other countries.

Electricity interconnection can lower consumer bills, improve security of supply and contribute towards decarbonisation.

A number of interconnection projects are already progressing under Ofgem’s regulatory regime1, designed to bring forward interconnection investment in the interest of GB consumers. This includes projects to France, Belgium, Norway, Denmark and Ireland, which have been assessed by Ofgem as offering over £11.8bn in consumer benefits. The Government has also supported a number of mature interconnector projects to benefit from access to European grant funding as Projects of Common Interest.

Together these projects represent billions of pounds of infrastructure investment and aim to more than double our interconnection capacity by the early 2020s. This will make Britain more energy secure and will help lower consumer bills.

[1] Source, Ofgem: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/decision-roll-out-cap-and-floor-regime-near-term-electricity-interconnectors