Cable Route Engineering

On 19 July 2022, FAB Link Limited and RTE announced the final route selection for the FAB Link HVDC interconnector. Of the two route options that had been carried through development, the promoters chose the alignment that crosses the English Channel without making landfall on the island of Alderney, citing ongoing uncertainties around the need for Alderney to export electricity. Project Director James Dickson said the choice gave the project more certainty by reducing the number of permissions, approvals and licences required, and that it offered cost savings and a shorter cable-laying schedule than the Alderney-landfall option. The selected route retains the UK landfall at Budleigh Salterton (Devon) and the French landfall at La Plate on the Cotentin peninsula in Normandy, with a 218 km overall corridor connecting National Grid's Exeter 400 kV substation to RTE's Menuel 400 kV substation. The decision also resolved the long-running question over the role of Alderney Renewable Energy in the project's onward development.