A supergrid set to strengthen energy links between France and the UK
Each year, 500 million Europeans use 3,200TWh of electricity, and every citizen should have access to affordable, secure and sustainable energy. An increasing number of interconnector projects are being developed to ensure grid balancing at a time when there is growing demand for links between the various European networks to improve overall grid stability and build energy exchange capacity.
Omexom Major Projects was awarded the construction of an HVDC converter station located in the Calvados department near Caen in north-western France. As main subcontractor for ABB, Omexom and VINCI Construction are carrying out the design for the civil works, including building services, along with all of the construction and assembly works.
This subsea interconnector, due to come online at the end of 2020, will operate at ± 320 kV DC and will allow around 1GW of power to be transferred between the two countries. “One gigawatt is equal to the output of a nuclear power station, enough to continuously supply 500,000 homes”, says Arnaud Gautier, Business Unit Manager of Omexom Major Projects.
Europe’s call for a growing share of renewables to be added to the energy mix . “IFA2 will give France the opportunity to export its surplus energy, import power at low cost to balance national supply and demand, and promote the use of renewables. Sources of solar and wind generation can be located far away from consumers. Electricity produced from these sources, which is more intermittent and less predictable than that produced by traditional power stations, must be able to be moved quickly and in large amounts by new energy highways so as to ensure service continuity for consumers”, he adds.
Christian Cartalas, CEO of VINCI Energies Transport et Transformation d’énergie, concludes: « Each year, 500 million Europeans use 3,200TWh of electricity, and every citizen should have access to affordable, secure and sustainable energy. An increasing number of interconnector projects are being developed to ensure grid balancing at a time when there is growing demand for links between the various European networks to improve overall grid stability and build energy exchange capacity. IFA2 will make the most of the complementarities between power generation systems on both sides of the English Channel and the North Sea, strengthen the energy mix and enable best use to be made of the various generation sources according to each country’s individual needs.”
