Abstract
Europe has put in place a specific regime to incentivise private investors to build, own and operate new interconnectors. Jean-Baptiste Vaujour at the Emlyon Business School looks at Eleclink, a private interconnector built to connect the UK with France. It uses the existing Channel Tunnel infrastructure. But the most disruptive side of Eleclink is not its smart use of the tunnel but its innovate business and regulatory model. The 1,000 MW DC cable became commercially operational in May 2022. Vaujour gives the background, the considerable regulatory coordination required, the financing and the revenue streams. He goes on to explain that, though a success, the replicability of the Eleclink business model is unclear. This article is the second of a series of four articles by Vaujour dedicated to the development of electrical interconnectors in Europe. The first article discussed the economics of the sector and its important contribution to security of supply, electricity affordability and emissions reduction in Europe.