Proposals to install an electricity interconnector between France, Alderney and Britain are being welcomed by around 90 per cent of people who took part in three days of community consultation in East Devon run by the FAB Project.
The aims of the FAB Project are to increase energy security, to lower bills for consumers, and to link up with tidal generators planned off Alderney, providing a way of transmitting reliable and predictable low-carbon electricity to both the UK and France.
The 1,400 megawatt underground and subsea interconnector would come ashore in the UK at Budleigh Salterton before linking to the National Grid substation near Broadclyst.
It would include a converter station near Exeter International Airport to change high-voltage direct current (HVDC) suitable for long-distance transmission to high-voltage alternating current (HVAC) used by the National Grid. There would be no pylons associated with the FAB Project in the UK, where the converter station would be the only part above ground.
Three public consultation events into the UK part of the project were held at Budleigh Salterton, Cranbrook and Woodbury Park on July 26, 27 and 28 where the detailed proposals were on show, and experts from the team were on hand to answer questions.
Early analysis of the feedback from the events shows that 90 per cent of the people surveyed said they supported the aims of the project.
Chris Jenner, the FAB Development Manager, said: “Over the three days we had more than 350 visitors and we’ve already received an encouraging amount of feedback which shows that the people of East Devon are very supportive of the project.
“We were very pleased to have met so many people, and would like to thank everyone who took the time to come along. There was a wealth of information available, which people have said they really appreciated, and everyone we asked said they came away with a good understanding of what we want to achieve.
“Our consultation runs until Monday, September 5, and full details of our proposals, including material from the three events, are available on our website www.fablink.net as well as at Budleigh Salterton library during normal opening hours.
“We still welcome further feedback, and there is an opportunity for people who weren’t able to attend any of the events to give us their views via the website. We’re particularly asking people to let us know which of two alternative routes through Budleigh Salterton they prefer.
“We have a further consultation event in Alderney on August 10, and once the consultation period closes we’ll carefully consider all the responses before drawing up our final proposals and submitting them to the relevant authorities for approval.”