ElecLink is a privately funded interconnector between France and Great Britain
Unlike other interconnector projects, which are fully underwritten by electricity consumers, ElecLink bears 100% of the investment risk. The project has been financed entirely through private funds.
ElecLink is a wholly owned subsidiary of Getlink, the company that owns the Channel Tunnel concessionaire, Eurotunnel. The Channel Tunnel is a vital transportation and trade link accounting for 26% of trade in goods between the UK and continental Europe. Eurotunnel carries around 22 million passengers, 1.7 million trucks and 2.7 million cars per year. Further details on Getlink’s activities and businesses can be found on its website here.
In February 2019, ElecLink was certified by the French and British energy regulators as a TSO.
ElecLink has received a 25 year regulatory exemption from certain clauses of European energy regulation. The exemption allows ElecLink to operate as a merchant interconnector while making significant contributions to social welfare in France and the UK through a profit sharing mechanism.
Identified in UK National Infrastructure Plan as part of the Chancellor’s Autumn 2012 Statement on how taking advantage of interdependency between transport and energy infrastructure creates the opportunity to achieve these benefits at lower capital investment cost.
On 17 February 2012 the French and British Governments issued a joint communiqué addressing common energy projects including ElecLink.
“We acknowledge the importance of developing new electricity lines between our two countries in order to strengthen further the linking of our grids, improve the security of our energy supplies and facilitate the integration of intermittent energy sources. We encourage further studies to be undertaken on the interconnector projects currently under consideration, namely the IFA2 led by the Réseau de Transport d’Electricité and the National Grid …and ElecLink led by Star Capital Partners and Getlink”.