Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential importance of a North/South Interconnector on the island of Ireland to the UK electricity supply.

The North-South interconnector is focused on increasing the integration of renewable energy between Ireland and Northern Ireland, and as such is a matter primarily devolved to Northern Ireland. Regarding the electricity supply between the island of Ireland and UK, imports into Scotland are constrained by wider constraints on the Scottish grid and on the border between Scotland and England. A number of measures are being taken to strengthen the Scottish grid and grid connections to England. These include the Western HVDC link, which is due for completion in mid-2017 and will provide an additional 2.2GW of capacity. The UK government welcomes interconnection where it is in the interests of UK consumers.