Industry NewsThe electricity interconnector between the UK and the Netherlands – BritNed – began commercial operations on 1 April 2011. The €600 million asset has been testing for a few weeks with no reported problems. The start of commercial operations allows 1,000MW to be transferred between the two nations, based on the nominations of its users.
The link was paid for and will be operated by National Grid and TenneT, the transmission system operators of the UK and the Netherlands respectively. Users can purchase capacity on a day-ahead or annual basis through auctions.
Welcoming the link Chris Huhne, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change said, "This is good news for our energy security, for UK renewables and for consumers. It plugs the UK directly into a wider European electricity market, allowing us to import our peak needs cheaply rather than hold expensive plant in readiness. Renewables win as it means surplus wind power can be easily shared. Consumers win as a single European market puts pressure on prices. And more new cables are planned so by 2020 we could have over 10GW of additional electricity flowing under the North Sea."