Decision on the Initial Project Assessment of the FAB Link, IFA2 and Viking Link interconnectors

Decision

Publication date

Industry sector

Transmission Network

We have decided to grant the FAB Link, IFA2 and Viking Link interconnectors a cap and floor regime in principle and subject to no material escalation in the costs as submitted to us to date by the project developers. This follows our March 2015 consultation on our proposals.

Our March 2015 assessment demonstrated that FAB Link, IFA2 and Viking Link are likely to provide significant net benefits for GB consumers.

We have considered all of the consultation responses received (available on the consultation page) and taken these into account in reaching our decision. We still think that the three projects are likely to be in the interests of GB consumers. We have therefore decided to grant these interconnectors a cap and floor regime in principle subject to a number of pre-defined conditions set out in our decision letter, and no material escalation in the costs as submitted to us to date by the project developers.

We expect the FAB Link, IFA2 and Viking Link developers to make their full FPA cost submission for each project within two years of the date of this decision. Once we receive the FPA cost submission for each project we will then consult on a detailed cost assessment and our decision will be used to set a provisional cap and floor.

Our March 2015 consultation also sought views on our minded-to position not to grant a cap and floor regime to the Greenlink project, developed by Element Power. We will continue to review the detailed analysis submitted by Element Power, the Greenlink developer, and other relevant information submitted to us in consultation responses. We expect to publish further information on this project shortly.