Europe: Intertek appointed as Offshore Planning Specialists for France-Alderney-Britain (FAB) Project

Intertek, a leading global quality solutions provider, has been appointed by FAB Link Ltd. to provide marine environmental and planning support for the France-Alderney-Britain (FAB) Project - a proposed electrical interconnector situated underwater between France and Great Britain via the island of Alderney.

FAB Link Ltd is engaged with Réseau de Transport d’Electricité (RTE) in the joint development of a 1400MW High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) electricity interconnector project that will connect the French and British electricity grids. The project will consist of two pairs of electrical cables, a converter station at each end, and connections into the high voltage grids at each end. The interconnector will travel nearly 220 km between the electrical substations at Menuel, on the Cotentin peninsula in France, and near Exeter, Devon, England and is scheduled to commence construction in 2018.

As marine specialists with extensive interconnector project experience in the UK and internationally, Intertek will be responsible for coordinating pre-application consultation, consent applications and consent compliance activities for FAB Link’s offshore infrastructure between UK landfall and southern extent of Alderney waters. This will include delivery of a marine licence application to the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) in England and a Food and Environment Protection Act (FEPA) licence application to the States of Guernsey for protection of the seabed required during the cable installation process.

Frank Beiboer, Managing Director of Intertek Energy & Water, said: “With a submarine power cable track record which spans more than 15 years and 10 interconnector projects, we are pleased to have been selected by FAB Link and look forward to working closely with their project team to develop this major international offshore infrastructure project.”

Intertek has extensive interconnector project experience including cable routing constraints and feasibility studies, route engineering, and survey management.

This project is being jointly developed by RTE and FAB Link Limited. FAB Link Ltd is a joint venture company of Transmission Investment LLP and Alderney Renewable Energy Ltd. RTE is the French transmission system operator of the electricity grid.

The project will allow a maximum transmission of 1400MW to help meet the need for increased capacity of energy trade between the two countries and thus contribute to the energy transition in Europe. The project is also designed to provide a route to market for marine renewable energy planned to be constructed in the seas around Alderney.

FAB has been recognized as a “Project of Common Interest” by the European Union following support received from both the French and UK governments. The FAB project has received funding from the European Commission through the Connecting Europe Facility.

Intertek’s Energy & Water provide the power transmission & renewables, oil & gas, water utility, and ports & harbours sectors with technical solutions to complex environmental and regulatory challenges throughout their project life cycle. We work as advisors and project managers for our clients through all stages of an offshore development - from concept, feasibility and design, through construction and operation, to decommissioning. We partner with developers, operators, asset owners, utilities, lenders and government.