Regulatory Other

On 20 February 2025, CRE (the French Energy Regulatory Commission) and Ofgem (Great Britain's energy regulator) released their first joint statement on the opportunity for further electricity interconnection capacity between France and the United Kingdom. The statement explicitly named GridLink alongside FAB Link as the two GB-FR interconnector projects that Ofgem had previously granted cap-and-floor regulatory approval in principle (FAB Link in 2015, GridLink in 2018), and noted that France's RTE had provided CRE in 2023 with a preliminary analysis of four projects (ElecLink 2, FAB Link, GridLink and AQUIND). CRE's prior valuation study found that around 1 GW of additional GB-FR interconnection could be beneficial for France only under conditions including a redistribution of costs between the two countries away from a 50:50 split. Citing recent cost escalation of HVDC cables and converters and the need to reinforce national networks against anticipated congestion, the NRAs concluded that further discussions were needed on the conditions required to enable c.1 GW of new capacity and on cost/revenue sharing, with an updated joint statement targeted for end-October 2025. CRE and Ofgem also committed to conducting a longer-term joint study to further establish the need for, and potential cost-sharing mechanisms of, new projects. The statement was signed by Beatrice Filkin (Director of Major Projects, Ofgem) and Emmanuelle Wargon (President of the CRE).