Plans for the very first electricity link between Great Britain and Germany take a step forwards

A new project to power tens of millions of homes has taken a step closer to becoming a reality, as plans for NeuConnect – the first direct power link between Great Britain and Germany – were submitted to Medway District Council. The planned interconnector would provide around 700km of subsea cables passing through UK, Dutch and German waters to form an ‘invisible highway’ between the Isle of Grain in Kent and the Wilhelmshaven region in Germany.

Following the submission of the application, Medway Council will examine NeuConnect’s application before it is decided upon by the Council’s Planning Committee in Spring next year.

NeuConnect is a privately-financed £1.4bn electricity interconnector project which will link two of Europe’s largest energy markets for the first time.

The cables will allow up to 1.4GW of electricity to move in either direction; enough to power tens of millions of homes over the life of the project.

The project’s proposals have been developed by an international, experienced consortium with a proven track record in delivering large-scale energy projects.

Christophe Vanhove, NeuConnect CEO, said: “We are pleased to announce that NeuConnect has reached a significant milestone and recently submitted an application for the UK part of an electricity interconnector between Britain and Germany.

NeuConnect would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those who were involved in the consultation process for these proposals, and will continue to engage with all relevant stakeholders as the project continues to progress.”

The submission of the application comes after NeuConnect held two public consultations in the Isle of Grain during June of this year, alongside a public information event held in November 2018. Overall, a total of 50 local people turned out to learn more about the proposals first-hand. 100% of respondents stated that they had found these consultations useful in addressing their concerns.

These consultations informed the development of NeuConnect’s proposals in the vital areas of visual, noise and traffic mitigation as well as means of reducing the impact of construction on the local environment.

To find out more about the project, residents can contact the NeuConnect Community Engagement team via freephone on 0800 298 7040 or email neuconnect@communityfeeedback.co.uk.