As part of today’s Anglo-French energy summit between the French Industry Minister Eric Besson and the UK Energy Secretary Edward Davey, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed for the development of the FAB project, an interconnector between France and Britain that would run via the Channel Island of Alderney and enable the development of that island’s extensive tidal-stream power resources. Under this agreement Transmission Investment will work in conjunction with the French national grid company RTE (Réseau de Transport d’Electricité) and Alderney’s tidal-stream developer ARE.
In their joint declaration the ministers stated that “the commercial agreements signed today … are major steps towards the realization of a significant new renewable energy project which could rank among the largest tidal stream energy deployments worldwide. We believe this project could encourage the emergence of industrial cooperation between France and the UK, while opening up new international prospects.” They also confirmed “the importance of developing new electricity interconnectors 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.”