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The FAB project promoters have been awarded €7.235m development funding by the European Commission through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). The CEF funding is available to Projects of Common Interest. The funding awarded represents 50% of the total cost of development.

Whilst subject to the signature of a grant agreement, the CEF funding should provide major assistance in carrying out the technical environmental, economic and legal studies necessary to bring the project into construction.

Link to www.rte-france.com/projet-fab

The FAB project promoters have been awarded €7.235m development funding by the European Commission through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). The CEF funding is available to Projects of Common Interest. The funding awarded represents 50% of the total cost of development.

Whilst subject to the signature of a grant agreement, the CEF funding should provide major assistance in carrying out the technical environmental, economic and legal studies necessary to bring the project into construction.

Alderney Renewable Energy (ARE) and Tidal technology company OpenHydro, a DCNS company, have signed a joint venture which will see the two companies combine their expertise and resources to develop a 300MW tidal array in Alderney waters. The joint venture company is called Race Tidal Ltd.

Once completed, the array developed by ARE and Openhydro is expected to consist of 150 turbines (2.0MW each) which will produce enough power for over 150,000 homes.

ARE has a long established relationship with OpenHydro (OpenHydro holds a 39 per cent shareholding in ARE) with both companies bringing their complementary expertise to this project. In 2008, ARE secured a 65 year license from the States of Alderney permitting ARE to develop marine renewable energy projects in Alderney’s waters. OpenHydro will provide the turbines which will be manufactured in Cherbourg (France) in an industrial site which will also support future tidal energy farms off the French coast.

Over the next three years, the partners will be working closely with The States of Alderney, the Alderney Commission for Renewable Energy, local communities and stakeholders to complete the required surveys and environmental impact assessments prior to making an application for full consent. The 300MW tidal array is expected to be deployed from 2020 which will coincide with the commissioning of the FAB interconnector.

FAB Link, a joint venture company developing a power interconnector between the UK and France, that will also connect tidal generated power in Alderney, has been granted an interconnector licence by Ofgem, the British energy regulator.

The licence grants FAB Link Ltd the right to own and operate the project, and provides certain associated powers. This represents the latest step in the development of the France-Alderney-Britain (FAB Link) project which has been designated as a key energy infrastructure project by the European Union and was one of the projects that won the support of UK prime minister David Cameron at the Anglo-French energy summit in 2012.

The France-Alderney-Britain interconnector project (“FAB”) has been selected by the European Commission as a Project of Common Interest (“PCI”).

Projects with a PCI designation are to benefit from faster and more efficient permit granting procedures and improved regulatory treatment. They may also have access to financial support from the Connecting Europe Facility (“CEF”), under which a €5.85 billion budget has been allocated to trans-European energy infrastructure for the period 2014-2020. This funding may assist both the development and the construction of the project.

For a project to receive the PCI designation it has to have significant benefits for at least two Member States, contribute to market integration and further competition, enhance security of supply, and reduce CO2 emissions.

Further information on PCI projects can be found: here